



x^^^^m^: 








.^W 







Cofu-d l/y George Southward. 



Helictype Priniius' Co., Boitoii. 



John Endecott, 



"GOVERNOR OF THE PLANTATION IN MASSACHUSETTS HAV," 

1629. 
From a portrait in the Hall of the American Antiquarian Society, copied from the original 



ANTIQUARIAN PAPERS. 



MEMORIAL OF 

GOV. JOHN ENDECOTT; 

RECEPTION OF 

GOV. JOHN WINTHROP, 

At Salem, Junk 12, 1G30, 

A SEQUEL or THE MEMORIAL. 



PRESENTATION OF THE 

PORTRAIT OF PRESIDENT SALISBURY 

To THE American Antiquarian Socteiy, Oct. 21, 1878. 



EEMOVAL OF THE TOMB OF ISAIAH THOMAS, LL.D., 

foundku ov the american antiquarian sociiny, 
Junk 24, 1878. 






^ 



W II C E S T E R : 
PRESS OF C II A S . '11 A M I L T O N . 

1879. 



./\5 



WJTII THE RE8PECfiS OF 



From rrocecdings of the American Antiquarian Society, of October 
21, 1873, and October 21, 1878. 

By Transfer 

MAR 30 1917 



V 11 1 V A T E L Y r K 1 N T E D . 



CONTENTS. 



I'AGB. 

Mkmoiual of Governor John Endecott 3 

Letter of Hon. William C. Endicott . • 3 

Reception of Gov. John Wintiirop at Salem, June 12, 1630 . . 47 

Eeport of Samuel A. Guekn, M.D., presenting Porirait 
OF President Salisrurv to the American Anti- 
quarian Society 55 

EemarivS of Eev. Dr. Georgk E. Ellis 5(j 

Kemarks of Hon. George F. Hoar • 59 

Response of President Salisbury 61 

Removal of the Tomb of Isaiah Thomas, LL.D 65 

Address of Hon. Charles B. Pratt, Mayor of Wor- 
cester 66 

Address of Hon. Stephen Salisbury 69 

Address op Hon. John D. Baldwin 74 

Note ox concluding ceremonies 78 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 
Portrait of Govkrnor John Endecott Frontispiece. 

PAGE. 

Portrait of Hon. Stephen Salisbury, President of the 
American Antiquarian Society . . • 54 



M E M O 11 1 A L . 



Me. Salisbury, addressing the Society, said : 

It seems to me to be proper that the gift of tliis excellent 
portrait of Gov. Endecott should be received with more full 
consideration of its worth, than the brief notice of the 
Reports of the Council and the Librarian. It was accom- 
panied by the following letter from Judge Endicott : 

Salem, Oct. 16, 1873. 

Hon. Stephen Salisbury, -President of American Antiquarian 
Society, Worcester : 

Dear Sir: Two years ago, when visiting the building of the 
Society at Worcester, I saw a copy, or what was intended for a 
copy, of the portrait of John Endecott.* It struck me as so 
imperfect, and that it did such poor justice to the original, that I 
then resolved to give to the Society a good copy of tlie original 
picture. Circumstances have delayed the accomplishment of this 
purpose, but I have finally succeeded in obtaining a very excellent 
copy. I have sent it to Worcester, by express, directed to you, 
and desire that you present it to the American Antiquarian So- 
ciety, from me, to be pi-eserved in your collections, with your other 
historical portraits. It was painted by Mr. Southland, of Salem, 
from the original portrait, now in the possession of my fjither, 
William P. Endicott, of Salem. The original descended to him 
as the oldest son of the oldest son direct from the Governor, 
together with tlie sword with which the cross was cut from the 
King's colors, and a few other heirlooms. It was jlainted in 1665, 

*The Governor and his descendants, until 1724, spelt the name Endecott.— 
Memoir of John Endecott. 



the year of the Governor's death, and the tradition in the family 
declares it to have been a most admirable likeness. I do not 
know when tlie several copies in the Senate Cliamber, tlie Massa- 
chusetts Historical Society and the Essex Institute were made, 
but they all are more or less imperfect and inferior, and do not 
compare in fidelity and character with the picture sent to you. 
I assure you, my dear sir, I take a great interest in the Society 
and the good work it is doing, and with my best wishes for its 
continued gi'owth, and with the kindest personal regards for 
yourself, believe me. 

Very truly yours, 

WM. C. ENDICOTT. 

lu presenting this valuable acquisition for your inspection, 
I have placed by the side of it a portrait of Gov. Endecott 
that has hung on your walls for many years, and was re- 
ceived from the Rev. Dr. William Bentley, to wliom the 
Society is indebted for many treasures, in manuscript and 
print. The old portrait has compelled those, who would, 
admire its subject, to turn away and "see his \asage in his 
mind." This fine painting has the face, not of a cold and 
narrow bigot, but of a man who would view his object 
broadly and fearlessly in all its relations, and would not 
withhold the kindness of those pleasant eyes. We may 
now gaze on the lineaments and expression that are suited 
to one, who is described by Edward Johnson in his " Won- 
der- Working Providence" as "a fit instrument to begin this 
wilderness work, of courage bold, undaunted, yet sociable 
and of a cheerful spirit, loving or austere as occasion 
served."* His apprehension and his temper were quick, and 
his self-control was sometimes astonishing. In all his words 
and actions there was a constant and cheerful recognition of 



* Wonder- Working Providence, 19. 



religious duty. The personal beauty, which is here re- 
presented, has not been wanting in the ladies of his family 
in our own day. 

John Endecott was born in Dorchester, England, in 1588.* 
Governor Winthrop was born in the same year. I find 
nothing more in relation to the social position of Endecott 
in England than the facts that he was a brother-in-law of 
Roger Ludlow, and his first wife was Anna Gower, a cousin 
of Matthew Cradock. This wife died soon after his arrival 
in New England, and left no children. On 18th of August, 
1630, sixty-seven days after the arrival of Governor Win- 
throp, Endecott was married by Governor Winthrop and 
Rev**. Mr. Wilson, to Elizabeth Gibson,! wdio was born in 
Cambridge, England, and probably came over with Gov- 
ernor Winthrop. She was the mother of twelve children. 

I do not know that there is any other evidence of the scho- 
lastic education of Governor Endecott than a few letters and 
ofiicial papers from his pen. These, with an independent vari- 
ety of spelling — the effect of changing fashion — and an entire 
disuse of any other language than the English, except in one 
instance, that I have observed, of the Latin word, "quaere,":}: 
are of a high character for clear statements and a choice of 
courteous expressions. His letter, dated Oct. 21, 1663, § 
written to persuade Rev**. Dr. John Owen, of England, to 
come to Boston, to take the place of Rev. John Norton, 
deceased, would do honor to any University. It does not 
appear that he was a lover of study, or of any book but the 
Bible, to which his allusions were frequent, and were made 
for strength of sentiment or argument rather than for orna- 

* Drake's Am. Diet, of Biography, t VViuthrop's New England, 1, 30. 
iMass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 4tli se., vol. G, p. 140. § Fell's Annals of Salem. 



ment or display. The memoir by Mr. C. M. Endicott men- 
tions that he was elected a member of the corporation of 
Harvard College, in 1642, when he was also Deputy Gov- 
ernor. He proved that he deserved this honoral)le distinc- 
tion, when on the 9th of May, 1655, he acted in behalf of 
the Corporation, with the concurrence of the Overseers, in 
addressing to the Geiaeral Court an eloquent and persuasive 
"information" of "the condition and necessities of the Col- 
lege and urgently prayed for aid; "if this work of the 
College be thought fit to be upheld and continued, as we 
hope that considerations of the glory of God, the honorable 
interest of the country, the good of posterity and the expe- 
rience of the benefits and blessings thereof, will constrain 
all men to say it is, then something must efifectually be done 
for help in the premises."* Rev^. Dr. Felt in his "Annals 
of Salem" quotes from the record of the Quarterly Court, 
that on March 30, 1641, "Col. Endecott raoued about the 
ffences and about a ffree skoole, and therefore wished a 
whole towne meeting about it ; therefore, that Goodman 
Auger warne a town meeting on the second day of the 
week." Dr. Felt remarks that "this is the first written 
intimation of instruction without price among our settlers." 
As evidence that "in the voluntary support of schools per- 
haps Boston led the way," Mr. Savage quotes from the 
Record of 1635, a vote "that our brother Philemon Por- 
mont shall be entreated to become schoolmaster, for the 
teachi-ng and nurturing of children with us."t But the 
merit of Col. Endecott's efibrts is not forfeited by want of 
priority. 



*Quiucy's Harvard College, 1, 464. t Winthrop's New England, 2, 204, u. 



Kev. Dr. Felt mentions that he found in the State Honse 
in Boston a bill in Mr. Endecott's handwriting, for the cure 
of a man committed to his care, in whicli he styles himself 
" Chirurgeon " ; and an early unstudied letter of his, with- 
out date, addressed to Governor Winthrop, when Mrs. Win- 
throp's health was a subject of anxiety, ofiters Unicorn's 
Horn, Syrup of Violet, and other rare and potent remedies, 
and adds, "if I knew how or in what way in this case 
to do her good I would with with all my heart, and would 
now have come to you, but I am altogether unskilful in 
these cases of women."* Mr. Endecott's training and prac- 
tice in the healing art were probably a part of a slight 
preparation for the exigencies of his residence in the wilder- 
ness. I do not discover that he had any other habitual 
occupation than the service of the colony ; to which he was 
devoted with equal zeal, as Governor, as Deputy Governor, 
as Assistant, as Sergeant-Major-General, and in other im- 
portant duties. To say that he served sixteen years, but not 
successively, as Governor, till his death, on March 15, 1665, 
and that he was for four years Deputy Governor, and for 
the same period Sergeant-Major-General, shows the high 
responsibility, but not the intensity and value of his labors. 
His frequent title of Captain, and his election to the offices 
of Colonel, Sergeant-Major-General, and member of the 
Military Committee, are evidences of his military reputation. 
His short campaign against the Pequod Indians in 1636 
exposed him to censure. Judge John Davis calls it " an 
ill-conducted expedition, of which Plymouth and Connecti- 
cut complained that it only tended to irritate the Indians 
and to make tliem more insolent." He adds that "Johnson 



* Mass. His. Soc. Collections, 4th se., VI T., 156. 



calls it a 'bootless voyage,'" "tlioiigh its avowed object was 
death to all the male inhabitants of Block Island, and heavy 
contributions from the Peqnods."* It may be that Endecott, 
remembering Cradock's benevolent " Instructions,"! was one 
of those, who thought it would be better to convert some 
Indians before they killed any. He was not accused of want 
of courage or prudence, and Governor Winthrop indirectly 
commended him, in recording as a "marvelous providence," 
that they came all safe to Boston. As a planter he is 
remembered for his fruit trees, and particularly for a pear 
tree, set by him, on an estate now owned by a descendant, 
which in the present year bore a large crop. His excliange, 
in 1645, of 500 apple trees for 250 acres of land is recorded.^ 
The personal eminence and greater resources of Governor 
Winthrop have thrown into the shade the first administra- 
tion of Governor Endecott, in its weakness and sore perplex- 
ities. The historical memorials of Endecott are few and 
scattered. That part of the records of the Company that 
related to the sending liim and his companions, and the 
position in which he came, has not been preserved. The 
early letters of instruction to him, and his letters in return, 
showing how he understood and performed his duty, are 
lost. Tlie official records of the proceedings of his brief 
government, and his letters in explanation and defence of 
his measures, are so lost and forgotten that a doubt has 
arisen whether he ever held the office. He has been sej)a- 
rately commemorated only in the interesting and modest 
"memoir," prepared by Charles M. Endicott, Esq., a de- 
scendant of the seventh generation, and printed for the use 



* Winthrop's New England, I., 229-233. Morton's Memorial, 186. Hutchinson's 
Massachusetts, I., 00. t Archteologia Americana, 111., 84. J Mem. of John 
Endecott, by C. M. Endicott. 



9 

of liis family, in an edition so small that the book is not 
accessible to the public. Endecott did not, like his friend, 
leave evidence of his administrative ability and unsurpassed 
discretion, in an admirable journal of the public incidents of 
his time ; and in a large correspondence, carefully preserved, 
to be presented for the instruction of posterity, by filial 
reverence that comprehends his large views and sympa- 
thizes in his spirit. 

The standing of Mr. Endecott in history as a ruler and 
one whom Homer would describe as "a shepherd of the 
people," has been injured by the careless writhig of some of 
his contemporaries and best friends. They have conveyed 
the impression that he came to the Colony with the royal 
charter, not to establish and act under civil government, but 
to prepare for it ; a different and more humble duty. Mr. 
William Hubbard, the historian, who is supposed to be in- 
debted for information in a great degree, to his own neigh- 
bor, Roger Conant, and to Governor Winthrop, makes the 
same representation, with the addition that Mr. Endecott 
was the "new agent," as Mr. Conant had been the "agent 
before." He also states that Mr. John White, who, in his 
home in Dorchester, England, was truly the "Planter" of 
Massachusetts Bay, engaged the Treasurer of "the Joint 
Adventurers" to write to Mr. Conant to induce him to 
remain here, before Mr. Endecott was employed, and also 
to "'signify to Mr. Conant' that they had chosen him to 
be their Governor in that place and would commit to him 
the charge of all their affairs."* It has hence been inferred 
that Mr. Conant was as much a Governor as Mr. Endecott. 



* Hubbard's New England, lOG, 109. 



10 

Mr. Haven, the Librariun, and a member of the Conncil 
of our Society, has brouglit out the truth of this pas- 
sage of history in such condensed and lucid order, in the 
Third Volume of our Transactions, that it would be suffi- 
cient to refer to bis conclusions, if it were not desirable to 
ascertain the value and merit of the public service of these 
Fathers of Massachusetts, by a view of the more important 
incidents of their lives. Among many contributions, with 
which Mr. Haven has enriched this Society, there is none of 
greater interest and authority, than that account of the 
"Origin of the Company." 

Mr. Roger Conant was "a religious, sober and prudent gen- 
tleman," residing in Plymouth, about two years after 1623.* 
Charles Deane, LL.D., in his valuable notes to the edition of 
Bradford's History of Plymouth, which we owe to his per- 
sonal exertions, takes notice that Bradford does not men- 
tion Conant in that history .j On account of dislike of the 
principles of rigid separation, Conant migrated from Ply- 
mouth to Nantasket, where he was connected with Lyford 
and Oldham, unlucky and disreputable companions. When 
this settlement was broken up, he, with Lyford and a part of 
the settlers, attempted a settlement at Cape Ann. There 
he received the encouragement of John White and the offer 
of the office of Governor, that has been mentioned, but I 
find no record that he ever exercised legal authority. From 
Cape Ann he removed with a part of the settlers to Naum- 
keag. There, in 1626 or 1627, Mr. John White wrote to 
him, "not so to desert the business," with Lyford and otliers, 
who were going to Virginia, and "faithfully promised" if 



♦Hubbard's New England, 106 and 107. 
tMass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 4th se., III., 195. 



11 

Conant and Woodbury, Balch and Palfrej, known to be 
honest and prudent men, would remain, they should receive 
supplies, and a patent should be provided. This was agreed 
to ; but before tliey received any return according to their de- 
sires, the three "honest men" last mentioned began to recoil, 
on account of fear of the Indians and other inconveniences, 
and resolved to go to Virginia with Lyford. But Mr. Conant, 
"as one inspired by some superior instinct, though earnestly 
pressed to go, peremptorily declared his mind to wait the 
providence of God in that place where now they were, though 
all the rest should forsake him, not doubting, as he said, but 
if they departed, he should soon have more company. The 
other three observing his confident resolution, at last con- 
curred with him," and they sent to England for supplies. 
This was the great work of Conant, to preserve the nucleus 
of a settlement at Naumkeag, which Endecott and Winthrop 
enlarged into a Colony. In 1671 Mr. Conant, in a petition 
to the General Court for a grant of land, says, " I have 
been a planter in New England for forty years and up- 
wards, being one of the first, if not the very first, that 
resolved, and made good any settlement with my family in 
this colony, and I have been instrumental for the founding 
and carrying on the same ; and when in the infancy tliereof 
it was in great danger of being deserted, I was the means, 
through grace assisting me, to stop the flight of those few, 
who were here with me."* He also mentions that he "was 
the first that had a house in Salem." There were two other 
instances in which Mr. Conant exercised public authority, 
but in both he acted as a man and not as a ruler. The first 



* Young's Chron. of Massachusetts, 27, u. 



12 

occurred, as Mr. Deane points out, before Conanfs resi- 
dence at Cape Ann.* A quarrel arose at Cape Ann, about 
a fishing stand, between the residents and a company from 
Flymouth, under Capt. Standish, who woukl have led them 
on to blows and bloodshed, if Mr. Conant, and Mr. Pierce, 
Captain of the May Flower, being present, had not interposed 
"with prudence and moderation," and removed the cause of 
disagreement.! Hubbard also mentions that Mr. Conant acted 
as peacemaker in a controversy between the older residents 
and tlie men who came with Endecott to Naumkeag, which in 
consequence of this, or after this, was called Salem, the city 
of peace. I do not know that there is any record, that on 
this or any other occasion Mr. Conant had any ofiicial inter- 
course with Mr. Endecott. The quiet retirement, in which 
Mr. Conant lived after the arrival of Endecott to the end of 
his long life, gives probability to the remark of Dr. Young, 
that "Conant and his associates, as was natural, appear 
to have been jealous of the new comers who had ar- 
rived with Endecott, and probably did not like it that their 
authority was to be superseded by his government, and their 
plantation absorbed by his colony. The Massachusetts 
Company seem to have treated the old planters with great 
consideration and kindness."^ Though Mr. Conant was well 
known and respected, he is not mentioned by Governor 
Winthrop in his Journal, and I do not find that in the last 
49 years of his life, he held any public office but that of 
Delegate from Salem to the General Court in 1634, and, 
in 1637, the office of a Justice of the Quarterly Court. 
His life extended from 1591 to 1679.§ 



*Mass. His. Soo. Coll.. 4th se., ITT., 195, n. tllubbard's New Englind, 110-111 . 
t Young's Chron. Massachusetts, p. 145, n. ^ Geneal. Register, 2, 233. 329. 



13 

The desire to establish a Puritan Colony, that induced the 
"Joint Adventurers" at Dorchester, England, to attempt to 
support the plantation of Mr. Conant, was entertained by 
stronger men with more systematic arrangements, in Lon- 
don. In the Planter's Plea, we read that "enquiry was 
made whether any would be willing to engage their persons 
in the voyage ; and it fell out that among others, they 
lighted at last on Master Endecott, a man well known to 
divers persons of good note, who manifested mucli willing- 
ness to accept the oifer as soon as it was tendered."* 
Hereupon divers persons subscribed "a reasonable sum of 
money." On the 19tli of March, 1628, Johii Endecott 
joined with five other "religious persons," Sir Henry Ros- 
well. Sir John Young, Thomas Southcoat, John Humphrey 
and Simon Whetcomb, in purchasing "a patent" of the terri- 
tory of Massachusetts Bay from "the Corporation styled the 
Council established at Plymouth, in the County of Devon, 
for the planting, ruling and governing of New England in 
America."! Without delay, a companj^ of the patentees and 
their associates was organized by the election of Matthew 
Cradock, a merchant of wealth, lilierality, and influence, as 
the Governor, with a Deputy Governor and a Council of 
Assistants of the same character and standing. On the 
20th of June, 1628,:}: three months after the purchase of the 
patent, John Endecott sailed with about one hundred follow- 
ers, and arrived at Naumkeag on the 6th of September. 
No part of the records of the company, in relation to send- 
ing Endecott, is preserved, except an order to pay the passage^ 
of him and his family after his arrival was known, on Feb. 



*Phinter'M Plea in Chron. Massachusetts, p. 13. 

t Hutchinson's Massachusetts. J Archaiologia Americana, III.. 3. 



u 

13, 1629.* But a letter from Mattliew Cradock to Capt. 
Endecott, dated Feb. 16, 1629, incidentally furnishes all the 
information that is necessary. Tlie letter is partly private 
and partly in behalf of the company. It acknowledges 
letters of "large advise" dated 13tli of Sept. last, for which 
hearty thanks are given. These letters, and a letter from 
Mr. Cradock mentioned witli date of Nov. last, have not 
been found. Mr. Cradock speaks of the increase of the 
company, promises supplies, and asks for return cargoes ; 
says we are confident of your best endeavors for the general 
good, and trust you will not be unmindful of the main end 
of the plantation, and keep a watchful eye over your own 
people, and endeavor to bring the Indians to the knowledge 
of the gospel ; he commends his prudence in giving our 
countrymen content in the point of planting tobacco for the 
present, but trusts that other means more comfortable and 
profitable may be found ; he warns him to be cautious and 
distrustful towards the Indians, and informs him it is fully 
resolved to send over at least two ministers ; but does not 
promise the office of Governor or any increase of official 
power, nor does he recognize or allude to any other au- 
thority in Capt. Endecott than that wliich belongs to a wise 
and good num, who is respected as the Father of his people. 
It is passing strange that no allusion is made to the expecta- 
tion of a royal charter, with full powers of civil government 
for the company, in this letter, dated sixteen days before 
March 4, 1629, the date of the charter. The charter recites 
the names of John Endecott and the other purchasers, at 
whose "humble suit and petition" it was gran ted. f On the 

* Arcbaeologia Ainericaua, TIL 8. t Hutchinson's Papers, p. 1. 



15 

30th of April, 1629, an order of "the General Court at Lon- 
don" states that Capt. Endecott had been chosen by the 
Company to be Governor of the Plantation in Massachusetts 
Bay "for one whole year, or until such time as this coukt 

SHALL SEE FIT TO MAKE CHOICE OF ANT OTHER TO SUCCEED IN 

HIS PLACE." A deputy Governor and a council of Assistants 
were elected witli the same term of office ; and official oaths 
were required by the Charter before they undertook the exe- 
cution of tlie several offices. Persons were specially assigned 
to administer the oath to the Governor. I cannot ascertain 
the date of tlie election of Governor Endecott. A letter of 
instructions from tlie Governor and Deputy Governor of the 
company to him and his council, dated April IT, mentions 
the election as a past transaction, forwards to him a '"'■du- 
2)licate'''' of the "Letters Patent under the Broad. Seal," as 
the charter was called, offers expressions of strong confi- 
dence, and gives much good advice. This, and a second 
letter from the same source and for the same purpose, dated 
May 28, have been justly admired as able statements of 
the views and intentions of the men by whom the settlement 
was projected. 

The Planter's Plea says, " The often agitation of this affiiir 
in sundry parts of this kingdom, the good report of Gov. 
Endecott's government, and the increase of the colony, began 
to awaken the spirits of some persons of competent estates 
not formerly engaged."* Thus Sir Richard Saltonstall, 
Thomas Dudley, William Vassal, John Winthrop, and eight 
other gentlemen of estate, intelligence, and respectability, 
were led to unite in an agreement, signed by them on the 
29th of August, 1629, binding themselves to embark for 



* Young's Chron. of Massachusetts, p. 14. 



16 

New England, "to inhabit and continue there," provided 
that "the whole government, togetlier with the patent, sliall 
1)6 legally transferred and established, to remain " with them 
and others who shall inhabit said plantation.* Such an 
undertaking must have required consideration and consulta- 
tion for some time previous. The negotiations connected 
with it could not liave been secret, and they must have been 
made known to Governor Endecott in the first months of liis 
official power, and he must have seen, that it was not likely 
that his hand could retain the sceptre which lie had made 
worth possessing. He nobly endured this trial of his char- 
acter. Though he suffered many reproaches in his active, 
earnest life, he was never accused of envy, jealousy, or dis- 
content, on account of his being superseded by Mr. Win- 
throp. And more than this — as you will presently be re- 
minded — in this time of uncertainty and inevitable anxiety, 
he carried through a difficult measure of great consequence 
to the character and the permanence of the Colony, and to 
the relief of him who should be its Governor. 

At a General Court of the Company, in London, on Oct. 
20, 1629, Governor Cradock "acquainted those present that 
the especial occasion of this Court was the election of a new 
Governor, Deputy and Assistants, the government being to 
be transferred into New England, according to the former 
order and resolution of tlie Company."! An election was 
then made, of John Winthrop as Governor, and John Hum- 
phrey as Deputy Governor, and 18 Assistants, including 
Matthew Cradock and John Endecott. As a mere outline 
of the official service of the first rulers of Massachusetts 
cannot be truly presented, if the Patent and its transfer be 



* Hutchinson's Papers, pp. 25-26. f Archaeologia Americana, 111., 61-62. 



17 

left out of new, I will ask your patience for a brief consid- 
eration of them. 

On these important subjects our modern histories give 
large and able discussions, with opposite conclusions. 
James Grahame, LL.D., in his interesting and favoralde 
picture of all things affecting the character of America, 
offers as "tlie only rational solution of the doubts and 
difficulties " that arise in relation to the transfer of the 
Patent and the religious independence of the Colony, the 
hypothesis that "the King was exceedingly desirous to rid 
the realm of the puritans, and had unequivocally signified to 
them that if they would bestow their presence on another 
part of his dominions, and employ their energies in sub- 
duing the deserts of America, instead of disturbing his 
operations on the churches in England, they should have 
permission to arrange their internal constitution, whether 
civil or ecclesiastical, according to their own discretion."* 
As a lawyer, learned in the accepted principles of his own 
day, Mr. Grahame could not tolerate a transfer of the 
charter by the Company ; but he might have looked 
above royal favor, to the Providential order of affairs and 
events in England, which gave to the Colonists opportu- 
nity, encouragement and strength, for peaceable changes in 
government and religion, that the boldest revolutionist would 
not have dared to attempt ; and our copious and brilliant 
historian, George Bancroft, LL.D., with equal confidence, 
and the support of one of the ablest jurists of our country, 
Justice Joseph Story, maintains that the charter was "far 
from conceding to the Patentees the privilege of freedom of 



*Graliame's United States. I., 258-9. 



18 

worsliip ; not a line alludes to such a purpose. Tlie orais- 
Bion of an express guarantee left religions liberty unprovided 
for and unprotected."* An opinion of Justice Story, that 
the propriety of the vote to transfer the government and 
patent, "in a judicial point of view cannot be sustained," 
seems not to have been adopted by Mr. Bancroft. He says, 
the vote was simply a decision of the question, where the 
future meetings of the Company should be held. "The 
Corporation migrated- They crould call a leg:al meeting at 
London, or on board ship in an English harbor ; and why not 
in the port of Salem, as well as in the Isle of Wight ; in a 
cabin or under a tree at Charlestown, as well as at the house 
of Goff, in London?" "Whatever may be thought of the 
legality of the decision, it gave to Massachusetts a present 
government." This decision was no rash and unconsidered 
act. Mr. Bancroft mentions that the transfer was made 
"after serious debate," and an adjourned session, and the 
a(;tion of "a committee raised to take advice of learned 
counsel, whether the same could be legally done or no." 
This occurred in the time of Sir Edward Coke, when there 
was no lack of legal acuteness. It is the deliberate conclu- 
sion of Mr. Haven,t from which I think few will dissent 
after investigation, that the proceedings of the Colonists 
were "open and notorious, and sanctioned by the acquies- 
cence of the British government." The cotemporary his- 
tory abundantly shows the correctness of the opinion of Dr. 
Palfrey:}: and Mr. IIaven,§ that "a political purpose," or in 



* Bancroft's United States, I., 372, 383. Religious uniformity fared no better, 
t Archicologia Americana, III., 50. 

X I'alfVey'rt New England, 1. 308. also quotins Mr. Burke for the same opinion. 
§ Uistory of Grants under the Great Council for New England, p. 25. 



19 

the words of Dr. Palfrey, "a probable purpose of a reno- 
vated England in America was entertained by the Puritan 
leaders, in view of the clouds that were gathering over their 
political prospects at home." "Those were not the times 
for such men as the Massachusetts patentees to ask what the 
King wished or expected, but rather how much free4pm 
could be maintained against him, by the letter of the law 
and other righteous means." Yet they were careful not 
to impair their strength, by losing the approbation and 
good will of the government and people of England.* 

Before Governor Winthrop had passed two years in giving 
organization and efficiency to his government, it became 
necessary to defend the charter and its privileges with an 
earnest struggle. The first foes were unwilling members of 
his own household, whose worthless settlements had been 
absorbed by the growing colony. Eubbard writes that 
"Sir Christopher Gardner, Thomas Morton, and Philip Rat- 
cliff, having been punished there for their misdemeanors — 
being set on, as was affirmed, by Sir Fernando Gorges, 
Capt. Mason and others, in 1632, complained and petitioned 
ao;ainst the Colonial Government."! A full hearino; was had 
by the King's council and reported to the King. The result 



* At a later period, the Earl of Clarendon, in framing his plan for the gov- 
ernment of the colonies by commi.-kioners, remarked that " they were already 
hardened into republics." That Charles II. imputed much of this hardening 
to the agency of Gov. Endecott, is apparent in a letter to Massachusetts Colony, 
written by Secretary Morice in l>chalf of the King, dated Feb. 25, 1G65; which 
concludes by stating that " his Majesty has too much reason to suspect that Mr. 
Endecott is not a person well affected to his Majesty's person or his govern- 
ment. His 3Iajesty will take it very well, if, at the next election, any other 
person of good reputation be chosen in his place." Before the next election 
Gov. Endecott died, but his successors were selected in view of the continuance 
of his policy.— Moore's Governors, 360; Hutchinson's f'apers, 392. 

t Hubbard's New Euglaud, 153. Neal's Puritans. 



20 

was, that the King "said he would have them severely pun- 
ished, who did abnse his Governor and Plantation, and that 
the defendants were dismissed with a favorable order for 
their encouragement, being assured by some of the Council^ 
that his Majesty did not intend to impose the ceremonies of 
the^church of England upon them, for it was considered 
that it was the freedom from such things tliat made people 
come over to them."* This gracious encouragement may 
have been falsely reported, and at best it must be considered 
to be of little value. But the fact remains that, at this 
period of immaturity and weakness, these powerful enemies 
did not direct their attack against the charter or its transfer. 
In 1636 or 1637, a writ of Quo Warranto was brought 
against the Company by Sir John Banks, Attorney Greneral, 
which sets forth that the members of "said Company in New 
England, for three years last past and more, used in London 
and other places, as also in several parts beyond the seas, out 
of this kingdom of England, without any warrant or royal 
grant, the liberties, privileges and franchises following," tfecf 
And in the specifications it is not alleged that the action of 
the Company is more unwarranted beyond the seas than in 
England. And in 1684 "the exemplification of the judg- 
ment" by which the charter was vacated, specifies three 
causes, levying taxes, coining money, and administering oaths 
of allegiance to the colony ; and does not name the transfer of 
the charter as one of the causes.:}: In the long interval be- 
tween the bringing a writ of Quo "Warranto, in 1637, to the 
judgment in 1684, " the clouds gathering over the politics of 
England," to which Dr. Palfrey alludes, were a blessing of 



* Mr. Grahamo has much reliance on this incident. 

t Hutchinson's I'apers, 101. JMass. Hist. So«. Collections, 4th se., II., 24G. 



21 

Providence to protect and nonrisli the growtli of political 
independence and freedom from the Church of England 
(witli a tendency to larger liberty) in the Colonies, which 
would have been trampled out, if the career of the English 
monarchy had been prosperous. 

In tlie absence of letters and records relating to the 
action of Mr. Endecott as Agent and as Governor, I can offer 
but a brief account of it, under three heads. First, he could 
do nothing better than to draw together the eight or ten 
little heterogeneous settlements in the Bay, and teach them 
that it was tlieir interest to be united. This must be done 
with meekness of wisdom, without a display of authority 
that might create alarm, and therefore it was less exposed to 
historical notice. I can specify no measure for this object but 
an exploration of the country west, mentioned by Governor 
Hutchinson.* I do not perceive that any worlv of this sort 
required the attention of Governor Winthrop. Second, the 
statement of the Planter's Plea, and other histories, that the 
good report of Captain Endecott's government and the 
increase of the colony induced a larger number of good men 
to come over, is evidence of the greatest weight and signifi- 
cance. Third, the expulsion of Messrs. John Brown and 
Samuel Brown from the Colony, in August, 1629, proves 
that he acted as a legal and a wise governor. The full 
account of tliis incident is found only in Nathaniel Morton's 
Memorial, (chiefly .of Plymouth), though it is confirmed by 
the records and documents of Massachusetts. Mi-. Morton 
wrote from information received from his uncle, Governor 
William Bradford of Plymouth,! and from manuscripts left 



* Hutchinson's Massachusetts, I., p. 17. t Morton's Memorial, pp. 147-8. 



22 

in his study. John Brown and Samuel Brown were men of 
respected character and great social influence, and after this 
time they were members of Parliament. They came over 
at the same time as the charter, and they are named among 
the five persons authorized to administer the oath of ofiice 
to Governor Endecott, and they were members of his coun- 
cil.* They resided in Salem, where they, and other passen- 
gers recently arrived, observing that the Book of Common 
Prayer and the ceremonies of the Englisli Church were not 
used, began to raise some trouble. They gatliered a com- 
pany together, in a place distant from the public assembly, 
and there the Book of Common Pra^^er was used. " The 
Governor, Mr. Endecott, taking notice of the disturbance 
that began to grow among the people by this means, 
he convented the two brothers before him. They ac- 
cused the ministers, as departing from the orders of 
the church of England, that they would be Separatists 
and Anabaptists, &c., but for themselves they would hold 
to the orders of the Church of England. The ministers 
answered for themselves ; they were neither Separatists nor 
Anabaptists ; they did not separate from the Church of 
England, but only from the corruption and disorders there ; 
and that they came away from the Common Prayer and 
ceremonies, and had suifered much for their non-conformity 
in their native land, and, therefore, being in a place where 
they might have their liberty, they neither could nor would 
use them, because they judged the imposition of these tilings 
to be sinful corruptions in the worship of God. The Gov- 
ernor AND Council and tlie generality of the people did 

* An honorary introduction of them by the London Company to Gov. Ende- 
cott, is added to the *• Instructions," which are the frame of the new govern- 
ment. These circumstiinces are mentioned to show the position and power of 
the two brothers. 



23 

well approve of the ministers' answer ; and, therefore, find- 
ing these two brothers to be of high spirits and their 
speeches and practices tending to mutiny and faction^ the 
Governor told them that JSTew England was no place for such 
as they ; and, therefore, sent them both back for England at 
the return of the ships the same year. And though they 
breathed out threatenings both against the Governor and 
ministers there, the Lord so disposed of all, that there was 
no further inconvenience followed upon it."* "On the 16th 
of October, 1629, Mr. Cradock, Governor of the Company 
in London, and the members of his Council, including Mr. 
Winthrop, addressed and individually signed separate letters 
to the two ministers, Messrs. Skelton and Higginson, and to 
Governor Endecott, in relation to the rumors of scandalous 
and intemperate speeches by the ministers, and of rash 
innovations in civil and ecclesiastical government, circulated 
by the Messrs. Brown, who had recently arrived. Tlie letter 
to the ministers expresses a strong hope that the accusations 
are untrue, and urges them to clear themselves or expect 
that order will be taken "for the redress thereof." To 
Governor Endecott they write that "we do well consider 
that the Browns ai'e likely to make the worst of anything 
they have observed in New England, by reason of your 
sending them back against their wills for their offensive 
behavior, expressed in a general letter from the company 
there.! Yet for that we likewise do consider tliat you are in 
a government newly founded and want that assistance which 
the weight of such a business doth require, we may have 



* Morton's N. E. Memorial, p. 147, et seq. 

t Archaiologia Amerinana, II T. pp. 53-54. This general ZeWer, probably 
from Endecott's Couucil, has not been found. 

4 



24 

leave to think it is possible some undigested counsels have 
too suddenly been put on execution, which may have ill 
construction with the State here, and make us obnoxious to 
any adversary. Let it, therefore, seem good unto you to be 
very sparing in introducing any laws or commands which 
may render yourself or us distasteful to the State here, to 
which, as we ought, we must and will have an obsequious 
eye." And then follows a vague requirement, that if he 
knows any thing "to detract from God's glory or his 
majesty's honor that hath been spoken or done by the min- 
isters or any others," he should " send due process " against 
the offenders, that we may, as our duty binds us, use 
means to have them duly punished." The object of this 
last passage, and of the letters generally, was to ward off, 
by the offer of prompt justice, the ill will and hostility 
against the Colony which the Browns would soon stir up in 
the English government and people. These letters throw 
strong light on the standing of Endecott's government, not 
only by the expressions of respect and confidence, but still 
more by the absence of any intimation that this proceeding 
was not legal and authorized by the official " Instructions " 
which were a part of his appointment. The words are, 
" if any persons prove incorrigible, and will not l)e re- 
claimed by gentle correction, ship such persons home by 
the Lion's Whelp rather than keep [them] there to infect 
or be an occasion of scandal unto others ; we being per- 
suaded that if one or two be so reshipped back and certifi- 
cate sent home of their misdemeanor, it will be a terror 
to the rest, and a means to reduce them to good conform- 
ity."* The letters give no hint of a power or disposition to 
The " general letter" mentioned on page 23, was the " certificate" required. 



25 

overrule Governor Endecott's proceedings. In Chuliners's 
political Annals, page 146, we read "when the persons 
had arrived in England, they who had been thus ex- 
pelled naturally appealed to the Governor and Company 
for reparation of their wrongs, but it api)ears not from 
their Kecords, that they received any redress. The in- 
solence of contem])t was added to the injustice of power." 
It does appear from the Records of Sept. 19, 1629, that 
arbitrators to settle this claim were agreed on by the 
Browns and the Company, and Mr. Winthrop was one of 
them. And they were ordered to "determine and end the 
business on the first Tuesday of next term."* If this settle- 
ment had been made, it would have been a proper subject of 
the lost Colony records and not of the records of the Com- 
pany. K the settlement had not been made, the complaints 
of the Browns would not have ceased to appear in history. 
I regret that I could not present more briefly a historical in- 
cident that deserves full consideration for its legal character 
and its momentous consequences. It has been sufficiently ap- 
parent that the expulsion was not a spasmodic act of tyran- 
ny, but a regular authorized action of a Government legally 
established. As to the consequences, the question was pre- 
sented whether the church of the conformists, established by 
these gentlemen with so much promise at Salem, and sup- 
ported by the favor, wealth and power of its friends in 
England, should be permitted to disturb and overturn the 
place of refuge, which the Puritans had begun to prepare 
for themselves. If Governor Endecott and his Council and 
Colonists did not remember. Governor Bradford and Elder 
Brewster and the men of Plymouth, with wliom the}' were 

* ArchiEologia Americana, III., p. 50. 



36 

then in frequent consultation, would not allow them to forget 
that such conforaiists as these persecuted good John Robin- 
son, thwarted his strong purpose to come to Plymouth, and 
deprived his people of the comfort and guidance of their 
beloved pastor. If the Messrs. Brown and their friends 
had been suffered to go on in their enterprise, the Colony 
would have divided and perhaps broken up, and the worthy 
and desirable immigrants, who had recently come and all tlie 
best of the population would have sought more agreeable 
homes. Moreover, this victory of Governor Endecott made 
it less diificult to preserve the integi-ity of the Colony in 
future years. We may conjecture that the apprehension of 
the power of the Messrs. Brown induced a prompt consum- 
mation of the arrangement long since made, for the transfer 
of the whole government and charter and the election of 
Governor Winthrop. And the idea might have been enter- 
tained tliat it would be considered a concession if Governor 
Endecott should be superseded. It appears that the measure 
was carried into effect suddenly. At the Court of the Com- 
pany, held on Oct. 16, 1629, when the letters to the Gover- 
nor and ministers were signed, "it is conceived fit that 
Captain Endecott continue the government there unless just 
cause to the contrary."* At a court of the 20th of October, 
four days after, the transfer of the Government was voted 
and Governor Winthrop was elected to supersede Governor 
Endecott, who was chosen one of his Council of Assistants. 
It may be 'presumed that Governor Wintln-op had after- 
wards no trouble about the Messrs. Brown, for T do not 
find their names in liis journal. 

The personal relation of Governor Endecott to Governor 



* Aichaeologia Americana, III., p. 69. 



27 

Winthrop deserves particular notice. The unostentatious 
and unobserved relinquishment of office by Endecott seems 
to me to be a high-minded act that has not received the 
praise which it deserves. That it is not an easy performance 
in modern days is proved by unhappy examples of most emi- 
nent statesmen. But Governor Endecott betrayed no en\^ 
or disappointment. And I have not found any evidence of 
censure or disrespect at any time between these most promi- 
nent founders of Massachusetts. Mr. Endecott cordially 
welcomed Governor Winthrop on his arrival at Naumkeag, 
on June 12, 1630.* Governor Winthrop writes in his Jour- 
nal, "Mr. Endecott came to us with Mr. Skelton (the pastor), 
and Oapt. Lovett. We that were of the assistants, and some 
other gentlemen, and some of the women and our Captain 
returned with them to Naumkeag, where we supped with a 
good venison pasty and good beer." Another demonstra- 
tion of good will is indicated in the entry of August 18, 

1630: "Capt. Endecott and Gibson were married 

by the Governor and Mr. Wilson." Tliat this friendly inter- 
course, so promptly begun, was continued during the life of 
Governor Winthrop, is proved by many letters from Ende- 
cott to Winthrop. They are expressed in the dignified con- 
fidence of friendship, with assurances of warm aftection, and 
with kind messages to Mrs. Winthrop. Though I can find no 
replies to these letters, it cannot be donbted that they 
existed. It would have been impossible that such expres- 
sions of personal regard should have been so repeated by 
such a man as Endecott, unless they were recipi'ocated. 
That the remaining letters of so good a scholar and so ready 
a writer as Governor Winthrop are so few, and the letters 



* Winthrop's New England, I., p. 30. 



28 

addressed to him are very numerous, must be imputed to 
the methodical habits of the Governor, and tlie carelessness 
of his correspondents. To show the character of Mr. Ende- 
cott's letters to his friend, I will offer two brief extracts. He 
writes under date of 2d of 12th month, 1639, on occasion of 
Governor Winthrop's loss, by misconduct of his bailiff in 
England, "If I should say I do not heartily and truly love 
you and yours, I should speak against my conscience ; yet I 
cannot satisfy myself with sole verbal expressions. Some- 
times I am thinking He [the Lord,] is upon the trial of your- 
self in the exercise of your faith, and patience, and other 
graces ; that as you have been beneficial and helpful all your 
time, since you came over, in the course he hath set you, now 
he will make you beneficial anotlier way to us all, in an 
exemplary, cheerful undergoing of God's afflicting hand in 
wisdom and patience." And his letter, dated March 5th, 
1649, three weeks before Governor Winthrop's death, has 
this passage : "Good sir, let us labor to love [one] another, 
and harbor the best thoughts of one another. We have not 
long to live here in this life, yet we shall remain as long 
as our appointed times are set," and let us "labor for cheer- 
fulness of spirit. You know who hath commanded it."* 

The character of Capt. Endecott is beautifully transparent, 
in a letter addressed by him to Governor Winthrop, April 
12, 1631, near the end of Winthrop's first year ; after stat- 
ing the cause of his non-attendance at a court as one of 
the assistants, and other things, he says : "Sir, I desired the 
rather to have been at Court, because I hear I am much 
complained on by goodman Dexter for striking him. I 
acknowledg3 I was too rash in striking him, understanding 



* Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 4tli se., VI., 13G and 150. 



29 

sinoe that it is not lawful for a Justice of the Peace to strike. 
But if you had seen the manner of his carriage, with such 
daring of me, with his arms on kimbo, &c. It would have 
prov^oked a very patient man. But I will write no more of 
it, but leave it till we speak before you face to face. Only 
thus far further, that he hath given out, if I had a pxtrse lie 
would make me empty it ; and if he cannot have justice here 
he will do wonders in England ; and if he cannot prevail 
there he will try it out with me here at blows. Sir, I desire 
that you will take all into consideration. If it were lawful to 
try it at blows, and he a fit man for me to deal with, you 
should not hear me complain. But I hope the Lord hath 
brought me off from that course ;" and the letter, after pro- 
posing "dismissing the Court," on account of planting sea- 
son, concludes in these words : " I will be with you, the 
Lord assisting me, as soon as conveniently I can. In the 
meanwhile, I commit you to his protection and safeguard, 
that never fails his children, and rest, your unfeigned, loving 
friend to command."* On the trial, the jury found Capt. En- 
dec^ott guilty, and assessed the damages at forty shillings 
(xls.). 

Governor Winthrop, prompted by his sense of honor, does 
not record, in his admirable journal, this misfortune of his 
friend, nor any scandal of the time, Mr. Savage mentions the 
case briefly in a note', and says "the verdict was £10 damages." 
This mistake must have been occasioned by a careless in- 
spection of the original (./olonial record, which, on examina- 
tion, is found to justify the 40 s. of the printed volume. 
The correction of this error is important, because so large 
an amount as ten pounds would indicate a gross outrage. 



* Hutchinson's Collection of Papers, 50. 



30 

Tliis Conrt was held May 3, 1631. On the preceding 30th of 
November, Sir Richard Saltonstall, whose name is always 
mentioned as the first in a list of assistants, was fined £5 "for 
wdiipping two several persons without the presence of 
another assistant." It was a frequent practice that members 
of the government should honor the laws by submitting to 
the penalties. Such proceedings would tend to promote a 
respect for law and order among our fathers which their chil- 
dren sometimes boast that they have inherited. Each of 
these two defendants sat as assistant in the court at the 
session when he was punished. On other occasions he was 
subjected to slight public censure, when he expressed too 
strongly by words and acts, the opinions that other leading 
men held in secret. With such a mind and temper, through 
his long life he retained a large share of the confidence and 
respect of his peculiar people ; and his cordial friendship 
witli that native nobleman. Governor Winthrop, was inter- 
rupted only by death. On November 19, 1632, a little 
more than two years after the active administration of Gov- 
ernor Winthrop began, Capt. Thomas Wiggin wrote to Sir 
John Coke, Under-Secretary, that "the English in New 
England, numbering about two thousand, and generally 
most industrious, have done more in three years than others 
in seven times that space, at one tenth of the expense." * 
Cotton Mather, in his Magnalia, says after the death of 
Thomas Dudley, (1653), "the notice and respect of the 
Colony fell chiefly on John Endecott, who, after many ser- 
vices done for the colony, even before it was a Colony, as 
well as when he saw it grow into a populous nation under 
his prudent and equal government, expired in a good old 

*Sainsbury's Calendar, 156. 



31 

age." And Hubbard seems to claim that his influence 
lived after him, by saying that after the death of Mr. Ende- 
cott (March 23, 1665,) "Mr. Belliugham was elected till his 
deatli by the general consent of the freemen, who, appre- 
hending the danger of some change, resolutely fixed their 
choice upon such persons, as they judged most likely to 
maintain the government in that same state, wherein it hath 
been heretofore, without the least alteration or change." 

Governor Endecott accepted with confidence, and main- 
tained the doctrines and practices of the Puritans. Gov- 
ernor Hutchinson speaks of him as "among the most zealous 
undertakers and most rigid in principles." But a modern 
notion, that he was more bigoted and severe than the other 
leading men of his time, is not^supported by history. He is 
not fairly treated, when he is selected for the contempt of 
posterity, because he acted with Deputy Governor Dudley, 
Sir Richard Saltonstall, and the other magistrates, in signing 
a paper which sets forth that "Forasmuch as the wearing of 
long hair, after the manner of ruflians and barbarous In- 
dians, has begun to invade New England, contrary to the 
rule of God's word, which says it is a shame for a man to 
wear long hair, as also the commendable custom generally 
of all the Godly of our nation until within these few years, 
we, the magistrates who have subscribed this paper, (for the 
showing of our own mnocency m this behalf), do declare and 
manifest our dislike and detestation against the wearing of 
such long hair, as a thing uncivil and unmanly, whereby 
men do deform themselves and oifend sober and modest 
men." " We do, therefore, earnestly entreat all the elders of 
this jurisdiction" to manifest their zeal against it, "and to 

take care that the members of their respective churches be 

5 



32 

not defiled therewith," &c.* Governor Hutchinson, who 
preserves this document in his history, calls this move- 
ment "an association against long hair." As this paper, 
which is dated 3d month, 10th day, 1649, is said to be 
taken from "Harvard College records," it gives occasion 
for the conjecture that it was prepared to have a good 
influence on the college. The graceful locks, that relieve 
the hard outline of the philosophical cap of the Governor, 
show that he had no personal dislike of the ornament 
of hair. He is also reproached for aiding Roger Williams 
in requiring women to wear veils at church.f This was 
resisted successfully by the women, with the aid of Rev. 
Mr. Cotton. Governor Endecott showed a better spirit 
in his desire to save Mary Dyer, the Quaker or Antinomian, 
from a capital sentence, when he did violence to his own 
conscience by suggesting to her the denial of her identity 
and putting her accusers to the proof.:}: But she was too 
brave to adopt this defence, or to accept her life on condi- 
tion that she would leave the colony. 

It is necessary to speak as briefly as I can of the agency 
of Governor Endecott in the persecution for religious opin- 
ions. This persecution has been described as a black cloud 
on the character of the colonists, resting with its most bale- 
ful shade on Endecott, who oflicially represented the opin- 
ions, which he shared with the majority, including many of 
the wisest and best of the people, and which it was his duty 
to enforce by legal sanction. While no man can defend 
those cruel acts, no just man will overlook the extenuating 



* Hutchinson's Massachusetts. 1, 142. President Quincy and Mr. Benjamin 
Peirce in their histories of the college, take no notice of this paper. 
t Moore's Governors. 352. 
I Sewell's History of Quakers, 1, 394- 



33 

(circumstances under which those acts were done. The 
provocntions were great. The colonists had come to the 
wiklerness as a place of refuge, where they might enjoy 
their religious opinions and practices, without the disgrace 
and violence which they snifered in England. Before they 
were strong in union and a common interest. Anabaptists, 
Antinomians and Quakers came among them, in spite of 
prohibitions, with no apparent purpose but to stir up oppo- 
sition and strife. The Quakers, who were the most nu- 
merous, were not such cheerful, peacealde, thrifty and inde- 
pendent christian philosophers, as those who are now called 
by the same name. They and the other foes to the peace of 
the Puritans, were bold, aggressive disturbers of private 
society and public assemblies, and hostile to the influence of 
christian teachers and the authority of civil rulers. Among 
them were fierce railers, having no respect for decency, who 
created an odium against others of more gentle mood, asso- 
ciated with them in some of their opinions. Thus the amia- 
ble and misguided, under the influence of a mania for mar- 
tyrdom, in the confusion of the times, were made conspicu- 
ous victims. In these things the Puritans were not sinners 
above their contemporaries. The two folios of Besse's" Col- 
lection of the sufferings of the people called Quakers," give 
accounts of this inhumanity in Yirginia and in the American 
islands, in England, Germany, and other parts of Europe, 
and in Asia. It was a time when private and public disci- 
pline was rude and painful. Punishments, for ecclesiastical 
and political offences by barl>arous wounds on the person 
were frequent and were not followed by dishonor. William 
Prynne, the learned lawyer and antiquary, and indomitable 
Puritan, was sentenced, for writing against the church and 



34 

clinrclimen, to pay a large line, to be degraded from liis pro- 
fession, and to stand in tlie pillorj in two difierent places, 
and to have one ear cut off in each place, and his nose slit 
and his forehead branded, and to be perpetually imprisoned.* 
This sentence was rigorously executed in ISM.f He re- 
peated the offence and was again punished in 1637 by the 
pillory, by marks on his cheeks, and by the loss of the re- 
mainder of his ears. In 164rl he was a member of Parlia- 
ment and took the lead in the impeachment of Archbishop 
Laud. 

The "civnl sword" was considered a proper weapon of 
truth and righteousness for common use. Besse remarks 
that "the edge of these old [English] laws was now turned 
upon the Quakers, while the Papists, against whom they 
were originally made, were little molested.''^ The same 
author gives the names of twenty-five men and women in 
England, who, as Quakers, between 1650 and 1660, died in 
prison and in consequence of abuses. In the list for New 
England, in the same period, I do not find that any Quakers 
lost their lives for their opinions, but the four who were 
tried and executed according to the law. It is a sad and 
surprising evidence of the weakness of humanity, that the 
Puritans, honest and earnest men, could have the Bible 
constantly and reverently in their memories and on their 
lips, without obeying its lessons of kindness and forbear- 
ance. And the example and precept of the neighboring 



* Biographic Qenerale. 

t Pictorial Hist, of Enjfland, 3, loo. IGO. Immediately after, he wrote a ".-ting- 
itig letter" to Laud, and was again brought to the Star Chamber, where, alter 
conviction, according to Laud's account, he mercifully forgave him. 

^Basse's History. 



85 

Colony of Kliode Island were also disregarded. The gov- 
ernment of that Colony replied to the request of tlie Com- 
missioners of the United Colonies, that Khode Island should 
concur in the exclusion of the Quakers, by a letter distin- 
guished for its fraternal spirit, its sagacity, and its indepen- 
dence. After cordial expressions of respect an<l good will, 
the letter goes on thus: "And as concerning these Quakers 
(so-called), which are now among us, we have no law among 
us whereby to punish any for declaring by words tlieir 
minds and understanding concerning tlie things and ways of 
God, as to salvation and an eternal condition ; and we moi'e- 
over find, that in those places where these people in this 
Colony are most of all suffered to declare themselves freely, 
and are only opposed by arguments in discourse, there they 
least of all desire to come. And we are told tliey begin to 
loath this, for that tliey are not opposed by the civil author- 
ity," <fec. "Yet we conceive that their doctrines tend to very 
absolute cutting down and overturning civil government 
among men, if generally received.''* Hubbard, a contempo- 
rary, in his notice of the continuance of this error in Massa- 
chusetts, in the imprisonment and disfranchisement of Bap- 
tists, says, "by this severity it was expected that they should 
have been restrained, but it proved otherwise. The bent of 
all men's nature makes it true, '• nithnur in vetitum^ (Ovid), 
and like waters that are pent up, they swell more and more."t 
With a readiness to admit all that is proved against our 
respected ancestors, it is proper to repel any exaggerations 
in an indictment by posterity. The painful details that have 
come down to form the more common opinion of our day, are 
derived chieflv from two books : one is the " History of the 



* Moore's Governors, 161. t Hubbard's New England, 591. 



36 

rise &c. of the Christian people called Quakers," written by 
William Sewell, a native of Holland, in the language of that 
country, and translated by him and published at London, in 
1722 ; the other book is Joseph Besse's " Collection of the 
Sufferings of the people called Quakers," published at Lon- 
don, in 1753. As it is known that many of the banished 
disturbers of the Colonists went to Holland and England, 
when the sense of their wrongs was fresh, there is no cause 
for wonder, that these books charge Governor Endecott with 
cruel language and conduct, that are not mentioned and are 
made improbable by New England records, and are in oppo- 
sition to contemporary testimonials of his character. Gover- 
nor Winthrop* alludes to Mr. Endecott's tenderness of 
conscience, and General James Cudworth spoke of him 
as "a holy and honest man," in 1634 ;f though afterwards 
Cudworth was strongly opposed to the persecution; and it 
would be easy to cite many such commendations. In answer 
to the allegation of Besse, that "John Endecott was a prin- 
cipal promoter of the persecution," instances of his forbear- 
ance and desire to avoid punishment, might be adduced. 
His defence of the treatment of the Quakers, in his letter to 
the Iving, shows the cautious and conscientious spirit in 
which the supposed path of duty was followed. J Governor 
Hutchinson mentions that the Quakers gave " rude and con- 
temptuous answers" at an examination that was had to allow 
them to explain themselves. And afterward one of them, 
Mary Prince, "railed at and reviled" the Governor from 
a window, and wrote a letter to the Governor and magis- 
trates, " filled with o})probrious stuff." Yet "the Governor 

* Winthrop's New England, 1, !.")«. tSainsbury's Calendar of Col. State 

Papers, p. 194. J Hutchinson's Papers, 325. 



37 

sent for her twice from the prison to his house and took 
much pains to persuade her to desist from such extrava- 
gancies. Two of the ministers were present and with much 
moderation and tenderness endeavored to convince her of 
her errors ; to which she returned the grossest raihngs."* 

When history talves her phice among the Muses and 
wields the witchery of imagination and passion, she gains a 
power over the opinions and memory of men, that she can- 
not have with the dry annals of truth. It is a glorious privi- 
lege, "when it moves in charity and turns on the poles of 
truth." But the license of a poet gives liim no right 

"To point a moral or adorn a tale," 
by the traditions of party strife, whicli are not supported 
by better authorities. Governor Endecott has now, in the 
minds of some people of the best education, not the char- 
acter that Governor Winthrop and Morton and Hubbard 
and other contemporaries have awarded to him, but the cold 
and cruel image, in which our two most admired poets 
have represented him. In the New England Tragedy, enti- 
tled " John Endecott," Mr. Longfellow has made so promi- 
nent the gloomy characteristics imputed to the Governor 
in Sewell's History, that few will remember that the poet 

also says : 

" He is a man, both loving and severe; 
A tender heart : a will inflexible. 
None ever loved him more than I have loved him. 
He is an upright man and a just man 
In all things, save the treatment of the Quakers." 

And these friendly words are turned to gall by this 

response, put into the mouth of the Governor's son : 

" Yet I have found him cruel and unjust, 
Even as a Father." 



* Hutchinson's Massachusetts, I. 181. 



38 

After search and inquiry I can discover no e\'idence that 
tlie disposition of Governor Endecott towards his children 
was different from the affection which he manifested for his 
friends. 

The wrongs of the Quakers is a theme acceptable to Mr. 
Whittier, not only on account of his brotherhood in the 
sect, but more so, because he has a brother's love for all, 
who suffer and are strong. In his sweet and pathetic poem 
entitled, " Cassandra Southwick," his sympathy for the 
oppressed seems to have led him to forget, that justice is 
due even to the agents of oppression. His account of an 
attempt to sell Cassandra Southwick, to be carried out of 
the country, into Slavery, as was tlien practised, is thus 
introduced : 

" And on his horse, with Eawson, his cruel clerk, at hand, 
Rode darlv and haughty Endecott, the ruler of the land," 

" And poisoning with his evil words, the ruler's ready ear. 
The Priest leaned o'er his saddle with laugh and scoff and jeer." 

We have seen that there were many occasions when the 
interest of the Colony and a sense of duty would compel 
Governor Endecott to be grave and stern. But he would 
not have retained, as he did through his long life, the 
respect and confidence of his people, if he had been a dark 
demon, with clergymen for counsellors, who were mocking 
fiends. The Priest alluded to by the poet, must have been 
either John Norton or John Wilson. There is a general 
assent to the testimony of Hubbard that Norton was "a 
man of great worth and learning, one that had the tongue 
of the learned, to speak a word in season to the weary soul."* 
And Nathaniel Morton, a contemporary, says: "John Wilson 



* Hubbard's New England, p. 640. 



39 

was charitable when there were any signs or hopes of good, 
and yet witlial, ver}'' zealons against known and manifest 
evils. Very few, that ever went out of this world, were so 
generally beloved and reverenced, as this good man."* 

It will appear that the poetry of passion may be a more im- 
partial witness than the poetry of imagination. Besse gives 
a long and eloquent letter to Governor Endecott, dated in 
1660, from John Smith, of Salem, justly denouncing the cruel 
treatment of his wife. After an exciting detail of wanton 
barbarities and false and scandalous accusations against his 
beloved wife, Mr. Smith adds: "Oh my spirit is grieved 
for thee, because the love I did ever see in thee is departed 
from thee, and there remaineth in thee a spirit of cruelty, of 
hard-heartedness to tliy poor neighbors, whicii thou hast 
formerly been raucli beholden to and helped by, when thou 
hadst no bread to eat. But now, since thou camest to Bos- 
ton and left Salem, thou art become much more proud. O, 
consider of those times and forget them not ; and of the 
love thou didst find among poor people in thy necessity, and 
how evil thou hast dealt and requited some of them now ; 
and how thou didst walk and act contrary to what thou 
didst formerly profess ; yea, I have heard thee say that ' all 
the armies o?i earth cannot subdue one lust in man or 
looinan.'' And now thou pronounceth sentence of death 
upon some, because they cannot submit to your wills and 
worship as you do." Then follows a passage of neigliborly 
gossip about not returning "what was borrowed," failing to 
pay poor men for their work, disorders in the Governor's 
family, "sitting up late at niglit," the "servants very vain 



*Morton'.s Memorial, 327. 



40 

and some of them wicked," tfec, and his "children being dis- 
obedient to their parents and living loosely in the time of 
their youth." And the letter concludes, "thy next neighbor 
in time past, and then serviceable to thee in many things, 
and it is like somewhat beloved by tliee, but now it is other- 
wise, as appears by thy hard dealing to my beloved wife. 
This I am constrained to write to thee in love and tender- 
ness."* This earnest and indignant letter must be consid- 
ered high authority on the question of the temper and dispo- 
sition of Governor Endecott, because Mr. Smithf had oppor- 
tunity to know him well and in all this array of accusations 
and imputations so industriously brought together, there is 
no charge or intimation of a want of love or kindness, 
towards his children even when they were disobedient, or 
towards his servants, even when they were disorderly, or 
towards any other person, except in the exercise of official 
power. 

There are several indications that Governor Endecott was 
not one of the rich men of his time. A subscription paper 
in aid of building the first town hall in Boston, dated 1656, 
has his name at the head, with a gift t)f £2 10s. Subscrip- 
tions for £10 were made by Deputy Governor Bellingham 
and a few other persons, and other sums were smaller.:]: The 
influence of Governor Endecott was not founded on the use 
of wealth. He was led by his sense of duty and his devo- 
tion to the Colony, and by his taste, to give liis attention 



* Bessc's History, Vol. II. 208. 

tJolin Smith was one wlio vvouUl speak out Ills whole mind, if. as is proba- 
ble, he is the man who in KiGO, at the ordination of John Higginson. disturbed 
the proceeilings and cried out, " what you are about to set up, our God is pull- 
ing down." F'or this he was committed to prison by order of the ( ourt. 
— Hutchinson's Massachusetts. I. 1>S7. 

X Proceedings for corner stone of Boston City Hall in 1882. 



chiefly to puhlic affairs. The company in England, accord- 
ing to the record of March 2d, 1629, "propounded" to em- 
ploy John Malbon, a man "having skill in iron works," to go 
to New England at their expense, and to return and report 
wliat could be done there in that business.* He performed 
the service. As this occurred when the company relied on 
information and advice from Capt. Endecott, lie should have 
some credit for this attempt to develop the resources of the 
country. He also showed that he valued and desired to in- 
crease the strength and independence of the colony, in his 
letter of December 1, 1643, to Governor Winthrop, in whic-h 
he says, "I want much to hear of your son's iron and steel. 
If the country will not be encouraged by so useful a design, 
to enlarge themselves for the advantage of it, I know not 
what will."! And whenever the chartered or assumed rights 
of the Colony were threatened by the Crown, or the church, 
he was roused in defence, with the watchful jealousy of a 
mother. 

Two acts of Governor Endecott, which have often been 
mentioned to the prejudice of his character for generosity 
and common sense, should receive such a true representa- 
tion, as the imperfect records enable one briefly to give. 
1, Governor Endecott arrived at Nanmkeag, afterwards 
called Salem, on September 6th, 1628. In the same year 
he visited Mount Wallaston or Merry Mount, the site of the 
town of Quincy, and "rebuked the inhabitants for their pro- 
faneness, and admonished them to look to it that they 
walked better."^ "In the purifying spirit of autliority," he 
cut down the May pole, on which Thomas Morton, the 

* Archreologia Americana, III. 14. 

t Hutcliinsou Papers. 135. 

+ Wiuthrop's New England, I. 31. 



42 

leader of these disturbers, had been ac<nistoraed to publish 
his witty and injurious slanders of the Puritans, wliile his 
followers danced and played about it in the carousals for 
which the sale of arras and ammunition to the Indians 
furnished the supplies. Before Endecott came, Merry 
•Mount had become so intolerable for this dangerous arming 
and stirring up the Indians, for obstruction of their con- 
version to Christianity, and for opposition and provoca- 
tion of the Puritans, that eight plantations obtained and paid 
for the aid of gallant Capt. Standish, who expelled Thomas 
Morton and diminished tlie mischief. It cannot be dmibted 
that the new agent would be urged to linish the work. The 
May pole was cut down because it was a token of opposition 
and an instrument of mischief, and not because it was used 
for pleasure, and its removal was an impressive moral lesson. 
As the histories do not mention the continuance of trouble 
at Merry Mount, the visit of Capt. Endecott has a claim 
to be considered wise and successful. 

2, The agency of Capt. Endecott in cutting out the cross 
from the English flag has been imputed to his own bigotry. 
In September, 1634, general alarm was excited by news 
from England that the persecution of the Puritans b}^ Arch- 
bishop Laud was increasing in severity. It is a modern dis- 
covery that Laud was liberal and tolerant. It was also 
stated that a commission had been granted to the two Arch- 
bishops and others of tlie King's Council, with authority to 
establish the Episcopal church, to recall the charter, to re- 
move the Governors, and make the laws of New England. 
Cradock, Governor of tlie company, had already sent the in- 
formation that the Kinji- had demanded the charter.* Under 



* New England Geneal. Register. I. 216. Hubb;ird's New England, 164. 
New England Memorial, 137. Hutchinson's Massachusetts, 



43 

the delirium of a panic, the Colonial Coni't discussed the 
propriety of disusing the flag, on account of the cross, which 
was regarded as a relic of popish idolatry, and opinions were 
divided. Capt. Endecott, who was more quick to feel and 
to act than his associates, cut the cross from the flag. The 
sword, which is said to have been the instrument of this bold 
act of rebellion, is preserved as one of the most precious of 
the heirlooms of his family. At the next meeting of the 
Court he was summoned to answer for the offence, but "l)e- 
cause the Court could not agree about the thing, whether 
the ensigns should be laid by, in regard that many refused 
to follow them, the whole cause was deferred." And the 
commissioners for military aft'airs, of whom Endecott was a 
leading member, gave order, in the meantime, that "all the 
ensigns should be laid aside." In 1635 a committee re- 
ported to the Court that tlie ofience of Mr. Endecott was 
"great, rash and without discretion — giving occasion to 
the State of England to think ill of us," cfec, &c., witliout 
the slightest intimation of its treasonable character, and 
"they adjudged him worthy of admonition, and to be disa- 
bled for one year from bearing any public oflice." Mr. 
Wintlirop, not then Governor, and a majority of tlie 
Magistrates, did not diflfer from the opinions of Capt. Ende- 
cott, though they united to censure him for the bold and. 
dangerous act, that led them to a more public expression 
of their own opinions.* In 1636 Governor Winthrop speaks 
of Governor Vane's permission to spread the King's colors 
at the fort, and adds, "this was done witli this protestation, 
that we hold the cross in the ensign idolatrous." May we 
not conjecture that it was the flag, the symbol of foreign 

* Wiuthrop's New England, T. 159. 



44 

power, more than the cross, that provoked the attack of Mr. 
Endecott, while his portraits are perpetual witnesses that 
with tlie carefubiess of a crusader, he always wore the sacred 
emblem conspicuously marked in the form of his beard. 

Though this slight sketch does no justice to the merits and 
claims of its subject, I venture to offer it as a wreath of me- 
morial leaves, hastily ga'thered by an unpractised hand, to 
be laid, in reverence and gratitude, before this worthy image 
of one of the founders of our nation. 

In your enjoyment of the gift, you will desire to remem- 
ber the giver, who in one act gratifies liis feelings of tilial 
regard and fulfills most acceptably his duty, as a member of 
this Society. I therefore offer for your adoption the follow- 
ina: resolutions : 

Resolved^ that the warmest thanks of this Society are pre- 
sented to our associate, Hon. William C. Endicott, one of 
the Judges of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, for liis 
most desirable gift of an accurate copy of a beautiful portrait 
possessed by his family, of his great and good ancestor, 
John Endecott, the first Governor in Massachusetts Bay. 

Resolved, that a copy of the above resolution shall be 
presented to Judge Endicott by the Recording Secretary, 



RECEPTION OF GOT. JOHN WINTHROP 

AT SALEM, JUNE 12, 1630. 
A Sequel of the Memorial of Gov. John Endecott. 
By Stephen Salisbury. 



The 250th anniversary of the landing of John Endecott was 
commemorated at Salem on the 18th of September, 1878, 
with all the honors. The genius and eloquence abounding in 
the head of the Commonwealth have been employed in erect- 
ing a long-delayed trophy for a father of the colony, who did 
as much as any other man to give direction and character to 
the civil institutions originated there. If it be true, as it 
has been said, that puritanism pervades the laws of the 
States of our Union, it is the demonstrative puritanism of 
John Endecott and men like him. The elegant and sympa- 
thetic oration of his worthy descendant, Judge William 0. 
Endicott, and the brilliant tributes in verse and prose that 
followed it, were heard with admiration, and will be 
preserved as literary treasures. To attempt to rival or 
imitate them would not be endured. But while attention is 
directed to this passage of history, it may be permitted to 
bring into the camera a social scene, that was not presented 
in the large range and the limited time of the proceedings at 

Salem. I will notice briefly what occurred at the landing of 

7 



48 

Governor John Wintbrop at Salem, on June 12, 1630. 
This was not a less trial of the mind and temper of 
Endecott than his own arrival two years before. 

Excellent portraits enable us to see these worthies as they 
stood. Governor Winthrop's face expresses official dignity, 
high purposes, and above all the overruling prudence that is 
apparent in every act of his life, and in every line of his 
journal and of his numerous letters. In Jolm Endecott we 
see united with attractive beauty the traits of an active dis- 
position, warm sympathy, and the entire absence of self- 
consciousness. In later days there has been some discussion 
whether Endecott or Wintbrop was the first governor of 
the colony. This question would never have occurred to 
Endecott. The painting agrees well with the pen-portrait by 
Edward Johnson in his " Wonder-working Providence," of 
which we are never weary : " He was of courage bold and 
undaunted, yet sociable and of a cheerful spirit, loving, or 
austere, as occasion served." His historical reputation 
received the severest wound from the hand of one of our 
gentlest and truest poets. The common opinion of our 
time is derived from these stately lines, not easily 
forgotten : — 

" On his borse, with Eawson, his cruel clerk, at hand, 
Eode dark and haughty Endecott, the ruler of the land. 
And, poisoning with his evil words the ruler's ready ear, 
The priest leaned o'er his saddle, with laugh and scoflf and jeer." 

Then the priest must have been either John Norton or 
John Wilson, both generally beloved and revered, and En- 
decott has no such character in the testimony of his 
cotemporaries nor even in the angry letter of John 
Smith denouncing the cruelties against his wife, in 
which Endecott was the official agent of the popular will. 



49 

The accusations of pride and cruelty are the readiest mis- 
siles for an attack on official authority. The character of 
the victims is no justification for cruel persecution, but it is 
certainly a palliation of the crime. The best that the poet 
now says of the victims is, that the extravagance of some of 
the early Quakers has been grossly exaggerated. Their con- 
duct will compare in this respect favorably with that of 
= " the first Anabaptists and Independents." We cannot 
forget that the Anabaptists of Munster are the horror of 
history and the shame of humanity. 

Endecott was a Puritan, and as a Puritan he must be 
judged, yet he has been made a scapegoat for his associates 
without the privilege of escape. To this day he is some- 
times condemned to bear alone the guilt and shame of cut- 
ting the cross out of the English flag, as if it were a crime 
without accomplices ; yet Governor Winthrop does not 
record the individual censure of the act by himself or any 
of his assistants. He only says that a committee found that 
the offence was " great, rash, laying a blemish upon the rest 
of the magistrates, uncharitable, and taking more authority 
than he had, and, what was most important, giving occasion 
to the state of England to think ill of us," and therefore 
they adjudged him worthy of punishment, slight, " because 
they were persuaded he did it out of tenderness of 
conscience." 

I do not remember that Governor Winthrop expresses 
disapprobation of the conduct or opinions of Endecott in 
any instance. He mentions Endecott's courage in changing 
his opinion when the truth was shown to him. 

John Endecott was sent to Salem with large promises of 
support in governing the colony, but he and his colonists 



50 

soon heard of the movement in England to establish a 
stronger government. Thus he was shorn of official influ- 
ence, like a President wlio could have no second term. In 
liis first year he was afflicted by tlie death of his wife, a 
suitable and beloved companion. He had a continual 
trouble from the jealousy and conflicts of the old and new 
settlers. He attacked and put down the mischiefs of the 
witty, profane and disorderly Morton and his followers.* 
And to preserve the colony he was compelled to exercise 
the highest power of sovereignty by banishing John and 
Samuel Brown, men prominent for character and ability. 
With these distractions and impediments, he had labored to 
introduce civil polity among the unconnected planters for 
two years, when news came that a government of greater 
dignity and strength had arrived, bringing not a delegation 
of authority, but the very source of power. The transfer of 
the charter was a stride toward independence, from which 
the colony never drew back. The visitors had the advantage 
of education, social position and wealth, that outshone the 
neighbors of Endecott. Yet he was not disposed to say, 
with Othello, that his occupation was gone, nor did he feel 
that he was superseded. He rejoiced that greater ability was 
at hand for the work in which he had labored and suffered 
so much, and he hastened to give the new comers a cordial 
reception. He must personally have known many of them, 
and with their distinguished chief he had relations of mutual 
confidence and respect. This is indicated by the fact men- 
tioned by the Hon. Robert C. AVinthrop, that John Win- 
throp, jr., was " contemplating the idea of embarking with 
Endecott." Happily we are able to enlarge a graphic 
report of his reception, which is characterized by " tlie 



51 

marked tnoderation of character" that distinguished the 
reporter. 

Endecott did not wait to collect a numerous train to make 
an impression on the visitors. On the morning of June 12 
Mr. Pierce, the master of a ship in Salem harbor, went on 
board the Arbella to announce a visit. He returned and 
brought there Mr. Endecott, and with him Mr. Skelton, the 
pastor of Salem, and Captain Lovet. Truly a modest 
retinue. The absence of the venerable Francis Higginson 
may be imputed to the sickness that soon after terminated 
his life. But where was Roger Conant, one of the best and 
strongest of the colonists ? Where were Peter Palfrey 
and others who appear so often in the history of that time ? 
John Endecott was not the man to repeat the sad lament of 
Saint Paul, " No man stood with me, but all men forsook 
me." He had no such feeling. In his address of welcome 
he could not omit to congratulate Governor Winthrop and 
his companions on their happy arrival, to give desirable 
information, to ask agreeable questions, and to express his 
joy that they were better able to accomplish what he had 
attempted. And he would not fail to say, as he afterwards 
wrote to Governor Winthrop: "I am at your disposal both 
as to time and place, and shall attend upon you for direction 
in business, in my duty as one of the assistants." Governor 
Winthrop responded with dignilied courtesy that was more 
than satisfactory to Endecott. For reasons of state 
Governor Winthrop was careful to recognize no legal author- 
ity in Endecott, and he addressed him as " Mr. Endecott." 
But on the fourth following page of his journal, in 
recording a pleasant incident, he gives him the title of cap- 
tain. Governor Winthrop and the assistants and some of 



52 

the other gentlemen, some of the women and the captain, 
went with Endecott and his companions to Nahumkeck, 
where they '' supped with a good venison pasty and good 
beer." At night the visitors returned to their ship, but 
some of tlie women staid behind. Governor Winthrop 
enjoyed this feast and expressed his pleasure, and un- 
doubtedly was very agreeable to his host. The occasion 
was full of pleasure to Endecott, for he had the company of 
Elizabeth Gibson, the excellent woman who became his wife 
sixty-seven days after. She was the happy mother of his 
twelve children, and the comfort and support of his life. 
It is a significant fact that Endecott complimented his new 
associates by selecting Governor Winthrop and the Rev. Mr. 
Wilson to officiate at his wedding. 

This reception may be regarded as a trifling incident in 
comparison with the important transactions that were 
described at the commemoration. But it is worthy of atten- 
tion, since it shows how these Puritan leaders met in relin- 
quishing and assuming official power. They disdained to be 
rivals, and from first to last with difi'erent tempers, they 
maintained mutual confidence and friendship, while they laid 
the enduring foundations of our republic. 




/'. H uiitin^toii, I'hi-X. 



Helioiy/>e Printing Co., Boston. 



Hon. Stephen Salisbury, LL D, 

presidp:nt of the American antiquarian society 

SINCE OCTOBER, 1854. 



From a portrait presented to the Society by members in response to a vote passed October 21, 1877. 



PRESENTATION OF PORTRAIT. 



EEPOET OF SAMUEL A. GREEN, M.D., 

In behalf of the Committee appointed to procure a 
Portrait of the President of the Society. 

It is my pleasant duty, saddened only by the thought that 
it devolves on me through the lamented death of Judge 
Thomas, to present to the American Antiquarian Society, 
in behalf of the subscribers, the beautiful picture now 
before you. For many years the members of the Society, 
bearing in mind the indefatigable labors of its President, 
and with a high appreciation of their value, have desired to 
possess his painted portrait, which might be hung on these 
walls with that of the founder. This desire took shape at 
the last annual meeting, when it was formally expressed by 
vote, and the result is now before you in this speaking like- 
ness, from the brush of Daniel Huntington, of New York. 



REMAEKS OF REV. DR. GEORGE E. ELLIS. 

Mr. President. — I recall that in the last conversation 
which I had with our late honored Vice-President, he ex- 
pressed his hearty interest in the measures of the Society to 
secure this portrait. Had he been with us to-day, the grate- 
ful office which I am performing would have been discharged 
by him. It is a satisfaction to us that the design of your 
associates, in this expression of their respect for you, and 
of their sense of the many and very great obligations which 
they owe to you, as the President, and as the constant and 
munificent benefactor of the Society, has been realized. 
And it is certainly most fitting that as we owe to your gene- 
rosity the spacious and attractive hall which we see in its 
completeness for the first time to-day, we should ourselves 
hang ujion its walls the inscription it now bears, in the 
animated canvas. The chief object of a well-executed por- 
trait, is to preserve the lineaments and features of an absent 
or a departed friend, when the eye cannot see him, or when 
he is an object of interest to those who have never seen 
him. No portrait, however faithfully it might copy nature, 
would ever be a substitute for your personal living presence 
to those of us who for many successive years have gathered 
here in this lovely Autumn weather to find you in the chair 
at our annual meeting, and to share in your most agreeable 
hospitalities. , 

The point of especial interest to us at this moment is as to 



57 

the skill aiul fidelitj' with which the artist has done his work, 
for we have regard now to those who are to come after 
us, and to look upon your portrait as we look upon those 
of the worthies around us whom we never knew nor saw. 
Often as I have been looking upon the portrait of some one 
who lived centuries or scores of years ago, and whose char- 
acter, genius, works or public service have made him an 
ol)ject of curious or grateful regard, I have wished that the 
representation might be accompanied by some certificate 
authenticating its fidelity to life, prepared and attested by 
contemporaries and associates. So I could wish now that 
those of your associates who first see your portrait on the 
wall, as you sit beneath it, might attest their satisfaction 
with it as presenting you as you are to us. So far as I can 
judge from its elevated position, it is a fair and truthful 
efiigy. I remember a lively discussion around a dinner 
table about the comparative and relative fitness of full- 
length and of half-length portraits, as assigned to various 
orders of men, with titles to distinction and regard for 
various qualities and services. All seemed to accord in 
restricting the full-length figure to military men, orators, 
statesmen and monarchs. For the scholar, the philosopher, 
the poet, the judge, the magistrate, the philanthropist, the 
honored heads and representatives of literary and benevo- 
lent associations, the half-length was the more appropriate. 
This adjustment of the proprieties in each case, proceeds 
upon the very reasonable assumption, that all which marks 
high personality, dignity and intelligence in a man is the 
portion of his whole frame which is above his waist, the 
remaining continuation of him having uses of convenience, 
but not distinctively significant of the qualities of his higher 



58 

nature. So the artist has presented you to us, sir, as we see 
you presiding, seated at the table. I indulge the hope that 
so long as I may be privileged to attend these pleasant 
meetings, I may be able, as now, to compare the man with 
the picture. 

One thing more, Mr. President. Among our many debts 
to you, I would gratefully recognize this, that within your 
very limited family, you have furnished us in your son an 
associate who, by his tastes and his chosen objects of 
research and thorough study in archaeological science, has 
already done such effective and rewarding labor in the 
direction of the original and primary purposes which the 
Antiquarian Society was formed to serve. 



EEMAEKS OF HON. GEORGE F. HOAR. 

A few days ago, one of the ladies of my family visited the 
household of our deceased brother, Judge Thomas, to 
express her love and sympathy. One of the Judge's family 
said that they had derived great comfort and pleasure from 
the many evidences of the public attachment which they 
had received since his death, and that she wished her father 
could have known it in his life-time — that he sometimes 
thought that people didn't like him. Certainly no man had 
a stronger hold on the affection of his associates, of the 
communities where he had lived, and of the whole Com- 
monwealth, than Judge Thomas. I sometimes think that 
the fastidiousness of taste, and coldness of speech, inherited 
from our English ancestors, make us conceal our feelings 
from our friends until too late. There is no reason why, on 
an occasion like this, we should abstain from making known 
to our honored and beloved Tresident what we are all 
thinking. 

Mr. Salisbury has for many years filled, in this commu- 
nity, a most difiicult position — that of a wise and useful 
manager of large inherited wealth. It is not a hard thing, 
in this country, for a man with honorable ambitions to raise 
himself from poverty to wealth. It is comparatively easy 
to obtain the prizes of professional and political life. But 
it is a very difficult thing for a man born to the position of 
wealthiest man in a wealthy community to fill that import- 
ant station wisely and usefully. Most men so situated 



60 

deem themselves exonernted from tlie ohligation to work. 
Our friend has borne his full share of the personal labor of 
all public undertakings with as much fidelity and public 
spirit as if he had nothing but his labor to contribute. 
Many rich men fancy tliat their wealtli entitles them to 
claim some superiority over their fellow-men. Mr. Salisbury 
has borne himself with such humility and simplicity that 
it has never occurred to the humblest man who knew him 
that they met otherwise than as neighbors and equals. It 
is said that men who contribute largely to public objects are 
not without the spirit of patronage or the desire to control. 
Mr. Salisbury has added to the large benefactions to which 
the success of almost every enterprise of education or 
charity in this community for a generation has been due — 
this society, that reading room, the Technical School, the 
Mechanics Hall, and countless others — the still larger bene- 
faction of so limiting his gift that it has been a stimulant to 
other men to do their share. He has made us feel that it 
was not he but we that were accomplishing the purpose. 
He has almost seemed to think when he contributed the 
endowment to a public oljject which ensured its success, 
that he was our debtor, and not we his ; and he has never 
demanded for his opinion in the administration of the 
enterprise even the weight to which it would be entitled 
independently of his share in its endowment. 

Mr. President, I have uttered imperfectly only what is in 
the hearts of all of us, and if your modesty makes what. I 
have said disagreeable to you, be assured you are the only 
person present to whom it is disagreeable. 



RESPONSE OF PEESIDENT SALISBURY. 

Gentlemen. — I thank my partial friends for their kind 
words to justify this expression of respect, and I owe them 
double thanks for aiding me in doing what they are pleased 
to commend. When we remember that our lamented Vice- 
President was prominent in this act, as he was in more 
important measures of the Society, we renew our grief that 
he was not permitted to give, by his own administration, 
new dignity and success to the presidential office. Horace 
says, " If you put me among the Lyric poets, I shall carry 
my head high enough to strike the stars." I can feel no 
such exaltation in the greater honor of placing my portrait 
with those of the eminent men who have done most to 
build up the character and usefulness of this learned insti- 
tution. This testimonial has approached before my face 
so gradually, that I have no excuse for the extravagance of 
surprise. I have had time to resist the delusions of vanity. 
The high office that I hold must have the highest share of 
the honor of the hour. As to the respect that I can appro- 
priate to myself, I know how little it is merited, and under 
what circumstances it has been accorded. With the deepest 
feeling of obligation, I thank the Society for this evidence 
of a favorable estimation of my services. I thank the more 
active members not only for this honor, but more for giving 
a pretence for it in the success that is chiefly the fruit of 
their own labors. And my gratitude is increased by their 



62 

liberality in saving the fnnds of the Society from being 
diminished on my account. 

I do not disown my faithfulness and my efforts to pro- 
mote the strength and usefulness of the Society. But I 
cannot overlook the fact that the success and acceptableness 
of my official course are the result of opportunity rather 
than of mj'- own skill and exertions. In October, 1854, 
after the lamented death of Hon. John Davis, I was elected 
as his successor at a happy period. The Society was ready 
to pass from greater attention to the collection of materials 
to a more numerous participation in historical inquiries and 
demonstrations. The value of two volumes of Transactions 
previously published is not forgotten. For the first we are 
indebted to the enterprise and special expenditure of Presi- 
dent Thomas. The learning of Albert Gallatin gave occa- 
sion for the second. There were other learned papers pub- 
lished by the Society, but they were infrequent and few. 
There was no lack of ability and earnestness in the members 
of that day. The laborious and active Joseph Willard, the 
learned, witty and copious William Lincoln, the shrewd, 
quaint and zealous librarian, Christopher Columbus Bald- 
win, and other faithful members, vrill be remembered. The 
men were there, but the time did not come until Mr. Haven 
made himself known as one who could loosen the seals and 
open the prophecy of the books. His correspondence, 
sought and valued by the greater and lesser students of his- 
tory, and his other learned papers, gave a reflected bril- 
liancy to the Society and the Library. Visitors to the Hall 
were more frequent and intelligent, and books and docu- 
ments of a better character were bestowed without solicita- 
tion and in greater abundance. The co-operation and gene- 



63 

rosity of members near and remote were aroused. Mr. 
George Livermore and Dr. Nathaniel B. Sliiirtleff, and 
others in whose continued presence we rejoice, began to 
show that tiiey had minds and hearts hirge enougli to take 
part in the best work here, while tliey abated nothing of 
their duty to the ancient and pre-eminent Society to which 
they had given their first love. Another source of your 
prosperity should be acknowledged. From the Society, 
and from myself in connection with the incident to which 
your attention has been called, constant thanks are due to 
generous friends not members of our Society, who freely 
gather the treasures of your collection, and amply pay for 
the privilege by their well-selected gifts, which are a large 
part of your annual increase. 

In the interest of our Society I must thank the eminent 
artist for the ingenuity and skill tliat he has exercised in 
this work of the imagination. In a few years the personal 
appearance of the individual will be forgotten. Then no 
one will regret that a President of the Society has been 
portrayed as favorably as the subject would permit. 

The Report of the Committee was accepted, and on 
motion of Hon. Richard Frothingham, it was voted that a 
copy of the portrait shall be inserted with the Proceedings 
of the Society. 



REMOVAL OF THE TOMB OF 

TSAIAH THOMAS, LL.D., 

Founder of the American Antiquarian Society, 
June 24, 1878. 



In 1817 Dr. Isaiah Thomas erected in Mechanic Street 
Burial Ground, in Worcester, a massive and venerable 
Granite Tomb, which was tlie mortal resting place of him- 
self and his famil}'-. This Burial Ground, liaving received no 
interments for many years, had become so subject to the 
disturbance and encroachments of business, and to careless 
and wanton injury, that the City Government, with general 
approbation, ordered that the sacred deposits should be 
removed to other places of sepulture, at the expense of the 
City. The City Government judged that tlie public services 
of Dr. Thomas were worthy of the distinguished honor of 
an impressive public ceremony, in a change of the place of 
his tomb tliat was acceptable to his family. The fraterni- 
ties of Freemasons, and the American Antiquarian Society, 
were invited and attended to take part in the dedication of 
the removed tomb placed on a beautiful and conspicuous lot 
in the Rural Cemetery, provided by members of both institu- 
tions, in gratitude to their common benefactor. On the 24th 
of June, 1878, the relatives of Dr. Thomas, members of the 
Masonic and the Antiquarian Societies, and many citizens 
met the City Government at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, 



66 

where the exercises were begun by an appropriate antliem, 
and a prayer was offered by Rev'd Edward H. Hall, pastor 
of the Second Parish in Worcester, of which Dr. Thomas 
had been one of the first members. Hon. Charles B. Pratt, 
Mayor of the City, then addressed the assembly as 
follows : — 



MAYOR PEATT'S ADDRESS. 

FELLOw-CrnzENS. — The ceremonial which brings together 
this large assemblage to-day, is one of no ordinary character. 
In our local associations and our local history, it is an event 
which serves as a link to bind the centuries together. 

Almost one hundred 3*ears ago our fathers set apart, in 
what we may fairly presume to have been a retired portion 
of the then little rural village, a spot which they consecrated 
to the burial of their dead. But like him who plants his 
trees without fully taking in the extent of their future 
growth and increase, they did not realize that the quiet 
village of their day was to become a bustling city ; that 
the little " God's acre," which they then so lovingly and 
reverently planned and established, would be demanded for 
other and very diflt'erent purposes by the restless activity of 
the living future. 

That time, however, has come. For more than a quarter 
of a century, surrounded by the din and noise of the work- 
shop, the hum of machinery, and the constant confusion of 
travel and traffic, it has gradually become unfitted to the 



67 

purposes for wliicli it was designed. Nor have our civic 
autliorities, to whose ward and keeping it was intrusted, 
been always mindful of their charge. They have allowed 
it to fall into neglect. They have suftered it to be dese- 
crated by the trespasses and depredations of later genera- 
tions, who, in their thouglitlessness, have failed to recognize 
or to appreciate the hallowed associations by which the spot 
was surrounded. And now, finally, when the public has 
asserted its right of eminent domain over it, we are com- 
pelled to abandon the use of it, for the purposes of sepul- 
ture, forever. 

Among those whose remains have so long reposed within 
those once sacred precincts was one whose name and charac- 
ter are indelibly stamped upon the history of his time — one 
whose life and labors were more instrumental, perhaps, than 
those of any other man of his day and generation, in giving 
to the city of his adoption the character and distinction 
which she boasts to day — Isaiah Thomas. 

But of him it is not becoming, or fitting, that Z should 
speak. The Society which he founded, and of which he 
was the first President, the membership of which is not con- 
fined to one country, which occupies so prominent a position 
among tlie learned societies of the world, and which has 
taken so important and active a part in the prosecution of 
antiquarian research, has its representatives here to-day. 
The newspaper which he established, and during its earlier 
years sustained under almost insuperable difiiculties, by 
w'hich, with his manly fearlessness, and his indomitable per- 
severance, he did battle for his country in the cause of her 
freedom and independence, has its representatives here 
to•d;l3^ The brotherhood of Freemasons, of which he was 



68 

almost Ills whole life an active and conspicuous member, has 
also its representatives witli us to-day. To these various 
representatives, and to the representatives of such other 
public bodies as may be with us, be assigned the grateful 
task of commemorating, by their words, the deeds and the 
fame of him whose mortal remains we are here and now, by 
appropriate and imposing ceremonies, about to consign to 
their final resting place. 

I have the honor to introduce to you our own distin- 
guished fellow-citizen, the present accomplished President 
of the American Antiquarian Society, Hon. Stephen 
Salisbury. 



ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT SALISBURY. 

Mr. Mayor, Gentlemen of the City Government, and 
Fellow-Citizens.— You do well in removing the mortal re- 
mains of Dr. Isaiah Thomas from a spot where they were 
overran and desecrated by the heedless feet of the busy 
world, to a sure and permanent resting place, surrounded by 
the constant freshness and growth of nature, fit emblems of 
the higher life of the spirit, when the muddy vesture of 
decay is thrown off. The members of the American Anti- 
quarian Society are happy to accept the invitation to jom 
in the lionorable commemoration^appropriate to this occasion, 
because Dr. Thomas was a benefactor to the city and the 
country in establishing the institution intrusted to their care, 
of which lie was the first President. This honor they may 
claim for him, tliough there may be much to be desired in 
the performance of their own duties as members. He was 
not such a founder as the noble Godfathers, wlio give 
names, words and nothing more, to the societies which they 
patronize. The foundation of Dr. Thomas was a firm 
material snpport, and he added to it a superstrncture, 
that was hkely to stand, whoever might be the tenants, and 
he took care that it should be open to the public on every 
side. As it is proper that the important parts of this struc- 
ture should be seen and estimated by you at this time, I will 
endeavor as briefly as possible to point them out. 

In the vigorous youth of the Kepublic, when Dr. Thomas 
was engaged with other patriots in deeds most worthy of 



70 

lionorable remembrance, he was profoundly impressed with 
the fact that tlie lessons of the time, the results of experi- 
ments, the decisive discussions, the wise counsels and the 
vindication of truth and honor from false and partial mis- 
representation, were passing from human knowledge, and 
would soon be lost with the decaying paper on which they 
were recorded. For years before 1812, when he organized 
the Society, he began to collect books, pamphlets, and news- 
papers for the library. It was a rare chance to glean in an 
unreaped field, and he took full advantage of it. This old 
collection is the attractive nucleus that has drawn together 
and given a peculiar character to the library, now so 
large that it lias required the additional building recently 
erected to contain it. Under this influence the newspaper 
department has gathered more than 4500 bound vohimes, 
and is an institution of the highest value in itself. The free 
public use of the library in the newspapers, even more than 
in the books, has been nobly rewarded in frequent and 
sometimes periodical gifts from enlightened friends, not 
members of the Society, who kiiow only the large hospi- 
tality and the limited funds of the Society. 

His Honor the Mayor has reminded us of the direct gifts 
of Dr. Thouias to promote the prosperity of this ancient 
town. To the same eflect, his large business and his ser- 
vices for patriotism and literature also contributed. In 
founding our Society, he and his chosen counsellors had 
views above and beyond the local advantage, though the 
local advantage was not postponed, but furthered, by them. 
The objects of the Society were two : first, to save the 
aboriginal and the modern materials of the history of this 
continent; and, second, to awaken a disposition to preserve 



71 

and elucidate sncli materials. For this end, the Society was 
spread over our whole country, including with the tie of 
membership men distinguished for taste and practice and 
influence in historical research. The Canadian, the Vir- 
ginian, and other remote members, have offered their valu- 
able contributions with more readiness and interest to an 
institution for which they had enlisted, than thej could feel 
for a society of Worcester or Massachusetts. Therefore 
the membership in your city has been restricted by the sys- 
tem of the Society, and not enlarged according to the abun- 
dance of talent that is found here. If the practice were 
otherwise, the Continental character would be lost, though 
the spirit of membership, the financial resources, and the 
productive power might be increased. Such local advan- 
tages have been secured by the " Worcester Society of 
Antiquity," a kindred institution, that has sprung up at our 
side in full armor, and has begun its labors with great 
energy and success. 

The more important parts of the first volume of the 
transactions of the American Antiquarian Society are a 
valuable " Description of Antiquities discovered in Ohio and 
other Western States," furnished by Caleb Atwater, Esq., 
of Ohio, and an " Account of the Discovery of the River 
Mississippi," by Father Hennepin. The large expense of 
this volume, and other important gifts to carry on the 
Society, were contributed by Dr. Thomas so quietly that 
their amount cannot now be discovered. Dr. Thomas also 
strengthened this institution by a working capital. He gave 
a fund for collection and research, and a Librarian's and 
General Fund, that were considered sufiicient and ample 

according to the money value of that time. Some donations 
10 



72 

have been made to increase these funds and for special 
objects, but the Society has been substantially supported by 
its founder. In 1820, he gave a large lot of land to the 
Society, and built on it a brick hall, which was considered 
safe from fire, well arranged, and large enough for the pos- 
sible growth of many years. In 1853, that hall was found 
to be too small and otherwise inconvenient and undesirable. 
It was deemed essential to the life of the Society that the 
building and lot given by the founder should be exchanged 
for a larger building on an acceptable site. But the old 
estate, if not used as the giver intended, might revert to his 
heirs. Then it appeared that the liberal disposition of the 
founder lasted longer than his life, and his Last "Will was 
not the last of the good will of his family. Under the 
influence and example of one of his descendants, wlio had 
not tlien, within liis reach, the largest income from the most 
important service of his profession, the family generously 
relinquished their rights, and the sale of the old estate 
enabled the Society to build the convenient hall of to-day. 

I offer a brief and imperfect outline of the American 
Antiquarian Society, but you will see that it is written all 
over with the name which you desire to honor. I will not 
estimate the local advantages of this Institution. I will 
only venture to say that it is the oldest school for higher 
learning in your city. It is free and freely used, and it is 
one of the rare instances of success in the elective system. 
The founder and his associates and successors do not 
belong to the old class of miserly antiquaries, who buried 
their treasures with themselves, and cultivated rust. The 
aim of this Society is to restore to newness of life the relics 
of the past, and apply them to the uses of to-day. If Don 



73 

Quixote should bring here a venerable copper, supposed to 
be Mambrino's Helmet, it would be faithfully scoured until 
it was valued as a part of the armor of truth and justice, or 
cast away as a barber's basin that could never again shave 
except in a lawful way. The old Society welcomes with 
the warmst cordiality its younger brotlier in the same line of 
local instruction, the admirable Free Public Library of 
your city. I need not state its merits for you know them 
all. Strangers have sometimes spoken of the intelligence 
and high character of the population of Worcester, and 
citizens have boasted of them. After the manner of the 
old inscription, I will say, if you ask for proof, look around 
a citizens' meeting in Mechanics Hall, as at this time. If 
you ask how this character and intelligence were produced, 
Kev. Dr. Marshall will again, as he did in an eloquent 
address a year ago, lead you to seven hills more glorious 
than the Seven Hills of old Home, crowned with seven 
institutions of higher learning, beaming with the radiance of 
Christian civilization. 



ADDRESS OF HON. JOHN D. BALDWIN. 

Hon. John D, Baldwin, senior editor and publisher of the 
Worcester Spy, of which Mr. Thomas was the founder, and 
a member of the American Antiquarian Society, was intro- 
duced, and spoke as follows : — 

Isaiah Thomas began public life as a bold supporter of 
the resisting movements of the colonies against the tyranni- 
cal measures of George Third. In this interest the Massa- 
chusetts Spy was started in Boston, July 17, 1770. He was 
then twenty-one years old, but, young as he was, he had 
already shown his quality, and made manifest what he 
would do as conductor of a newspaper. In 1766, when 
seventeen years old, he went to Nova Scotia to work on the 
Halifax Gazette, a paper owned by a German named 
Henry, an easy-going man, who left the printers of the 
paper to be its editors also. Mr. Thomas became its chief 
editor, and immediately created a sensation in Halifax, by 
turning it against the stamp act. He was summoned before 
the Secretary of the Province who reprimanded him severely, 
and bade him mend his editorial ways, which he failed to 
do. A copy of the Pennsylvania Journal, dressed in 
mourning and bearing significant devices on account of the 
stamp act, came into his hands. In the next number of the 
Gazette he said, "We are desired by a number of our read- 
ers to give a description of the extraordinary appearance 



75 

of the Pennsylvania Joui^nal of October 30 ; " and he did it 
by giving Henry's paper tlie same appearance as nearly as 
possible. Soon afterwards the Halifax stamp master was 
hung in effigy near the citadel. There were new proceed- 
ings against Thomas, which, however, did him no harm. 
He left Halifax in 1768, but did not return to Boston 
until 1770. 

He began publishing the ^j»y in partnership with Mr. 
Fowle, of whom he had learned the printer's trade ; but 
after three months he became sole owner and manager. 
Very soon the Spy was known as the boldest and most influ- 
ential supporter of the Whigs. It had a staff of writers 
which consisted of some of the ablest and foremost patriots 
of the colony. Mr. Hudson's " History of Journalism " 
describes it as " a quite remarkable newspaper which came 
into existence at this time (1770) and gave great aid and 
comfort to the prevailing sentiment of the people." He 
adds " that some of the contributions in the Spy were very 
powerful. There were other newspapers that supported the 
cause of the people, but there was no other so able, no 
other so fearless, no other so intensely hated by the British 
officials and the Tories, as the Massachusetts Spy.'''' Mr. 
Thomas states in his " History of Printing," ■ that he 
began the weekly Spy with two hundred subscribers ; but 
the increase was so regular and rapid, that, within two 
years, " its subscription list was larger than that of any 
other paper printed in New England." That he and the 
Sjjy had a wide reputation in the colonies, is shown by the 
fact that he was burned in effigy by the royalists of North 
Carolina. 

In Boston, the feeling of the royalists towards Mr. 



76 

Thomas and his paper became a fierce rage, which sought to 
destroy them by any means, lawful or unlawful. In 1771, 
Governor Hutchinson and his council held a special session 
to consider what should be done with Mr. Tliomas and the 
Spy. Finally they ordered him to appear before them, but 
did not put the order in writing, being conscious that it was 
illegal. Three times they sent a messenger to demand his 
appearance, verball}^, and three times he refused to appear. 
It was then proposed to imprison him for contempt ; but 
they did not venture to attempt tliis. Their next movement 
was to have him indicted by the Grand Jury ; but the 
Grand Jury would not indict him. Several other methods 
of reaching and crushing Mr. Thomas were proposed by the 
royal officials, but, none of them being legal, they were laid 
aside, after encountering storms of denunciation from the 
patriots. He was obliged to maintain this fight with the 
royalists, so long as his office remained in Boston. A timid 
man would have been daunted, but Mr. Thomas faced their 
rage with the utmost boldness. Here is one of his replies 
to their persecutions. It was written and printed in Octo- 
ber, 1772 : — " Should the liberty of the press be once 
destroyed, farewell to the remaiiider of our invaluable rights 
and privileges ; we may next expect padlocks on our lips, 
fetters on our legs, and only our hands left at liberty to 
slave for our more than Egyptian task-masters — or — or — 
Fight oitr Wat to Constitutional Liberty." 

In 1775 it became evident that the printing of the Mas- 
sachusetts Sjyy cov\^ not be continued in Boston. Early in 
the spring it appeared certain that its office would soon be 
mobbed and sacked by British soldiers. Everybody felt 
that the beginning of the revolution was near at hand. 



77 

Therefore Mr. Thomas decided to remove the publication 
office of the Spy from Boston to Worcester. The hxst num- 
ber of the paper printed in Boston is dated April 6, 1775. 
His press and type were packed up privately, taken across 
Charles River in the night, with the help of General 
Warren and others, and sent quietly to the new home of the 
office. 

Mr. Thomas tells us that he went to Lexington " at day- 
break " on the morning of April 19, 1775, and "joined the 
provincial militia in opposing the king's troops." 

The first number of the Sj)]/ printed in Worcester is 
dated May 3, 1775, and contains an account of the battle 
of Lexingto-n. This was the first printing done in Worces- 
ter. Mr. Thomas could not save his other property in Bos- 
ton. When lie arrived here his office was destitute of 
printing paper. How lie secured liis first supply of this 
indispensable material is told in the following letter, ad- 
dressed by Jolm Hancock to Joseph Warren and the Com- 
mittee of Safety : — 

" Worcester, 26 April, 1775. 

" Geatn, — Mr. Thomas, the Printer, is here, has fixed his 
Press, and is Ready to go on with Business, but is in want 
of paper. I undertake for him to Desire you will order the 
under-mentioned Quantity to be sent to him from Milton ; 
his being supplied will answer Public Service. We are not 
likely to have even a Single Person to attend us. Mr. 
Paine is here ; his Townsmen who came with him are 

returned home. My Servant \s house furniture is in 

Boston. I should not like to be demolished by a Tory, but 
I must submit to be unnoticed. God bless you. 

I am, Gentn., Your Sincere Friend, 

John Hanoook. 



78 

" Paper for Mr. Thomas : 

" 50 reams Crown Printing. 
" 40 " Demy " 
" 20 " Foolscap " 
" 5 " Writing." 
On tlie back of the sheet was the following : — 
" On Service of the Colony : To Joseph Warren, Esqr., 
and the gentlemen of the Committee of Safety, &c., &c., at 
Cambridge, or elsewhere. 

John Hancock." 

When I copied this letter, nineteen years ago, the origi- 
nal was in possession of Samuel Jennison, Esq., of this city. 
It is now, I presume, in possession of some members of the 
Jennison. family. My sketch of the revolutionary work of 
Mr. Thomas must stop here. It must suffice to add that he 
did his work faithfully to the end of the struggle ; that he 
was the first man to read publicly in Massachusetts the 
Declaration of Independence, and that he lived to see the 
colonies become a united and independent nation. 



Hon. H. O. Houghton, of Cambridge, Hon. Marshall P. 
Wilder, of Dorchester, and Hon. Charles W. Slack, of Bos- 
ton, made interesting and eloquent speeches; after which 
the assembly, with the escort of many Masonic fraternities, 
followed the remains of Dr. Thomas to the Rural Ceme- 
tery, where the re-interment was made with solemn Masonic 
rites, and a graceful eulogy was spoken by M. W. Grand 
Master, Charles A. Welch. 



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